Witch Pie?
by DarkTwistedSisters
Summary: Meet Mae and Lilly, two unlikely friends turned business partners that end up meeting the boys under some incriminating circumstances. Assumptions are made. Pie is eaten. John is still missing and Bobby's no where to be found. Are these girls really witches? Or is there more happening than meets the eye? BOOK 1 of our Bakers, Hunters and Pie series! Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hey readers! We spent months working on this first book and yes it is a completed piece. Each season is going to have at least one book, (we obviously started at the beginning) We did our best to keep Dean, Sam, Bobby, and John as close as possible to their actual characters, but beware there is some slight issues that will happen were they might seem slightly OOC, but fear not! There are reasons for this. Which will be explained throughout the originally a one-shot but alas it got a bit out of hand so every book will officially be posted in chapters.

On that note: Neither Dark nor I own Supernatural or any of the characters mentioned that belong to the series. We do however claim Lilly and Mae as our own original characters. If you have any questions please message us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Yes this is a collaboration piece so there are 2 main OC's not sure if anything is going to occur romantically yet; we are letting our characters take the wheel on that end. But it's us and we enjoy persuading our characters to try new things.

Trigger warnings; Abuse, Slight OOC, and oodles of Expletives (We all know that our boys would swear if they weren't on network television)

Update: Twisted and I went back through and corrected a few errors, and we're now presenting you with our final edit of Witch Pie? Like it? Let us know. We're still turning out chapters in our latest books. Happy reading!

Bakers, Hunters, and Pies, Oh My…

Book 1 Witch Pie

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

September 13, 2005

7 AM

1

The morning brought a crispness to the air, the cool breeze whispering promises of an early fall. Unanticipated storm clouds gathered above the town, a slight inconvenience to its citizens. Cold rain mixed with the heat shimmering from the ground created a light, rolling fog. The streets teemed with early risers. Parents waved as their children boarded the school bus. Men and women rushed down the sidewalks, quickly trying to avoid the brunt of the storm; many grabbing a hot coffee before carpooling to work.

In a little apartment just down the road, a man is his mid-40s is stepping out of the shower when the lights in the bathroom begin flickering.

"Shit." He curses as he reaches for a towel. Before he can react, a cloud of smoke twists and jerks down his throat. His eyes roll to the back of his head and he falls unconscious to the ground.

It's not long before he regains his feet and braces himself on the bathroom sink. He smiles slightly, his eyes open. Glaring obsidian stares back in his reflection.

"Fucking Hunters." he sneers, shaking his head. Stark naked, he walks over to a seemingly unkempt bookshelf and runs a finger across several of the volumes. He picks up some and tosses others behind him, scanning through pages as a wicked smirk plays on his features. He finds one that may be of interest, laying it out just as a phone starts to vibrate somewhere in the mess. Grunting, the man pulls it out from under loose ammo, looking at the 'J. Winch' flashing at him on the screen. "Perfect." He murmurs as he flips the phone open.

"Craft? I was hunting a demon last night. I think it was searching for you. Are you safe? You have the devil's trap up right?" A man asks on the phone, tone tinged with worry.

"Well if it isn't John Winchester." The man answers smoothly. "Seems you're a bit late, as usual." Craft sits in the desk chair, leaning back as he continues "Your friend's body isn't one of the best I've resided in but it does nicely enough. _**Thanks**_ _by the way_ for getting rid of my last meat-suit. I really liked _it_ …" he taunts.

"You evil son-of-a-" John roars over the line before the demon cuts him off.

"Hey now, none of that John, you dumb hunters know the risks. Like possession for one. I do have to say I'm impressed you figured it out so quickly; so, how about this… You and I should play a game." The demon says playfully over the phone but the threat of the challenge was almost repugnantly clear. "We wouldn't want another Harvelle case on our hands would we?" The demon says with a smirk. _Wait for it…._

Soft breathing can be heard from the other end of the line. "You evil bastard…"

 _Hook... Line..._

The line is quiet for several moments more, before a deep sigh is heard. "What are the terms?"

 _Sucker…_

2

'She's my cherry pie, Cool drink of water such a sweet surprise, Tastes so good makes a grown man cry. Sweet Cherry Pie'

It was a warm day, the sun glinting off the hood of the black Impala as it slowly cruised down Main Street, with the music blaring through the open windows. It pulls into a parking spot in front of a small bakery. Music blares as two doors swing open, the music cutting out as two men in black suits emerge from the car. They don't even take note of the shops around them as they turn down the sidewalk towards their destination. If anyone had been close enough they would have heard them arguing quietly under their breath as they hurried towards the entrance of the library.

Inside the nearby bakery, two young women are in the process of opening their shop. The seating area of their cafe is comfortable. Mismatched tables and chairs of different colors, sizes, and comfort are set up seemingly at random. Very overstuffed loveseats and chairs hug the walls nearest to the windows. The soft lighting illuminating the cafe seems to inexplicably cast away all shadows. The walls are covered in an eclectic style one wouldn't typically find in a bakery. With strong undertones of urban hippy, accents of pagan, apothecary bottles, dried herbs, and even a few posters of the girls' favorite music bands and movies. The bottom half of the walls are lined with shelves filled with all kinds of books for people to read at their leisure. Each table has a bookmark holder attached to the napkin dispenser. Even the knick-knacks in the store ranged from fairies to flowers, to Egyptian pieces here and Celtic paraphernalia there; that was what made the cafe come off as homey and comfortable. Nothing looked expensive; but everything gives the customers a quick glimpse into the unlikely friends-turned-business-partners' lives.

"So Mae, do you even think anyone will show up before three today?" The shorter of the two girls asks, breaking the comfortable silence with a tilted head as she arranges the freshly baked pies. Strands of her raven hair fall into her honey eyes as she leans down to arrange the bottom of the display shelf.

Mae rolls her eyes before smiling at her friend. "We have plenty of loyal regulars Lilly. Don't get your corset in a knot." She turns to scoop up a tray of cupcakes meant for the display near the register.

"You're the one that laced it, should I be concerned about your ability to do so?" Lilly asks wryly as she moves over to their electric kettle to brew hot water. "Besides you know we are always slow in the morning. People prefer going to the new Dunkin's. We need a freaking drive thru." She says blowing a strand of hair out of her eye impatiently as she prepares cups for her and Mae.

"But drive thrus are so impersonal. Besides, where the heck would we have it? What this town really needs is a place for people to relax, and enjoy themselves. Lately it just seems to be all 'live fast and move on.'" Mae gestures before turning to stare out the front windows, noticing an old looking black car parked in front.

"What this town really needs is even less people. Besides I like impersonal. Unlike someone else who runs this shop, I'd rather not be everyone's therapist, thank you very much. I don't care about what Suzy did with Tommy last Thursday night by the quarry. I don't care that Ms. Carter might be keeping some little shit after class because she 'really believes in them'; I cannot express in enough words how little I care about that community drama crap."

Mae sticks her tongue out at Lilly as she drops the till into the register. "I'm not a therapist, but I like helping people out when I can. I like feeling like I'm part of a community. Like I make a difference, if only in a small way."

"Well I for one could use some new faces. Like some eye candy. Eye candy is almost as good as the edible kind. It's boring growing up with every Dick, Tom, and Rob in this stupid town. They all want the whole nine yards. Big house. White fence. two-point-five kids and Fido. Blegh." Lilly says as she discards her jewelry from her scarred wrists and fingers, and washes her hands methodically. After several moments of scrubbing she dries them thoroughly and puts her jewelry back on, recovering the ugly scars. When the kettle finally whistles she sighs with contentment. She lifts the kettle from the base, filling both cups and a tea pot. She takes all three over to their regular table.

"There is nothing wrong with wanting a family and a dog… But please, punch me in the shoulder if I ever succumb to the name Fido." Mae giggles, her eyes darting back to the car sitting out front; _why does it look so familiar?_

"Dude. No, there is so much wrong with that, and trust me I will. Wait…" Lilly pauses, making her way over to the bookshelf. She scoops up their latest reads and returns to the table. Sweeping her skirt underneath her, she falls into her favorite chair, and continues with a smile. "Does this mean you and I are close to living the dream? I mean we already have a sweet ass house. It's huge as fuck. So, that makes us Lilly and Lizzy the lezzy lovers right?"

"Feel better?" Mae inquires, watching her friend's shocked face as she takes a sip of tea. She giggles as Lilly instantly begins scooping sugar into the cups, and then the pot. Tapping her fingers on the still open till Mae's attention returns to the distraction of the car outside.

Lilly grunts what Mae can only interpret as confirmation. She opens up her book, ignoring her friend in favor of what might be one of her new favorites.

"Hey Lil… have you ever seen that car before?" Mae shakes her head as if clearing it, and closes the register. She absentmindedly begins to play with the end of her braid in frustration, a few chestnut colored wisps escaping the weave.

Lilly takes another deep sip of tea as she mumbles a noncommittal "Sure?" her honey brown eyes, never actually lifting from the pages, as she pulls her pin straight raven hair on top of her head in frustration, clipping it, her elbow keeping the book open, as she continues to read. When her hair is up and out of her face again she begins tapping Mae's spot at the table expectantly, where the other book and her friend's cup resides.

"You're not here, and you should be…" Lilly whines, still reading. "Plant it."

Mae just shakes her head, smiling, as she takes her seat. She sips the tea, adds honey and tries again. She knew that Wednesdays never picked up until around two, she opens her own book and also begins reading. The strange car out front is completely forgotten.

Mae alerts to the jingle of the door opening. "Welcome to Cakes, Cookies and Pies… Oh, oh good morning Todd." She smiles, getting up "The usual?"

Todd smiles pleasantly in return. "Good morning Miss Liz, Miss Mara."

Lilly snarls, looking up from her book... "God Todd, just drop the Miss. I'm about done telling you that.. We've known each other for over a decade, come on now, drop the formality." She takes a sip of tea, glaring at their old friend, before she turns back to her book.

"Sorry Mis-... umm… Mara." Todd's cheeks darken slightly. He awkwardly pulls his bag forward and fishes through it while walking towards the register. "Here you go Miss Liz, you guys got a lot of mail today."

"If you want ta call her Liz, Lizzy, Beth, or Mae, go for it. But drop the Miss! Todd, no one is that formal anymore, Huah, keep up with the times, you're so… Just- We're adults now, our families don't dictate how we talk now."

Mae rolls her eyes and smiles as she finishes pouring a mug of coffee and fishes a Muffin out from the display. "Thank you Todd, and here you go; Cherry-blueberry muffin, baked fresh this morning, coffee and milk."

The young man smiles wide in appreciation. He takes a seat at the counter, attempting to engage Lilly in small talk.

Mae smiles at his attempt; wishing, not for the first time, that Lilly would notice how much he cared. Had always cared, and how he never flinched under her rebuffs. She takes her time going through the mail, sorting bills from junk, when she finds an envelope that makes her stomach tighten.

Finally giving up on talking to Lilly, Todd finishes up his breakfast, tries to pay Mae, giving up on it when Lilly snaps at him to 'knock it off'. A blush lights up his face as he mumbles a quick thank you before he takes his leave with the promise to see them the same time tomorrow.

After several moments Lilly looks up from her book "Gods that kid is so weird! Who talks ta people while they are reading? Rude. He's so, him.."

Mae rolls her eyes and resumes her seat next to Lilly, deciding that now wasn't the time to point out that talking to her while she was reading was exactly how they'd become friends. "Well, anyway… Ummm…" Mae pulls a white envelope from her pocket. "We are going to have to keep the shop in top shape. I have a letter from the USDA about our quarterly health inspection."

"Oh?" Lilly asks nonchalantly as she turns a page in her book. "We'll be fine Mae, Jim loves us and our goods, we have nothing to worry about. Our shop is always in A-plus shape anyways."

Mae just rolls her eyes "Lilly, I told you that Jim was retiring last month, do you like, ever listen?"

"Uh-huh… See. I told you we'll be…. Aait, what?" She says pausing mid-sentence as she facepalms. "Oh yeah, well shit. I wonder who they picked up for that position."

"I'm not sure… But I want to make sure we make a good first impression on them. Okay Lilly? You can't ever undo a first impression, that's why it's vital we stay on top of things."

"Alright _mom_ , I get it. I will be on top of it. Trust me." Lilly says with a amused look.

Mae's lips turn into a pout. "I am not like your mother, you take that back right now."

"Unwad your panties first." Lilly quips back, with a smirk.

Mae just glares at her, before shaking her head and closing her eyes; and taking a deep breath.

"There, calm yourself and drink your tea. We just did a deep cleaning last weekend and the only products out are currently in the oven, waiting to go in the oven, or in the display case. So breathe and read. We've got this."

They sit in a comfortable silence for about two hours, broken only by the sound of the oven timer, before Lilly starts chuckling. "This book is so great, where did you pick it up from again? The used book store?"

"Which one?" Mae reluctantly stops reading her book to look up at Lilly. "Oh, that one. You remember Andy? He works for some publishing company now, editor or mail room or something. Anyway, he saw it and thought I'd like to read it. So he sent me a copy"

"Andy...Andy… Andy… oh that pussy you dated back in junior year? The one that was always spouting that romance shit at you and all 'my feelings this, my feelings that'? That kid seriously needed to grow a pair. I said one little thing to him about it and he flipped his shit. What a pansy." Lilly said shaking her head. Reflexively she covered her small smile with one hand as she continued reading. She enjoyed running that one off, and remembered it quite well. Mae deserved someone with testosterone, not some sniveling little shit obsessed with romance, and some notion of them getting married after senior year. He was pathetic.

Mae nearly spit her tea out "He was sweet. I really liked him. He used to call me just to read me poetry from books he found at the library. It was a nice change. When he was offered a scholarship in another state, we knew it wouldn't work out. But it was nice to hear from him."

Lilly just rolls her eyes. "Oh yeah, you're just making it so much worse right now. But I'm shocked... Andy! Reading something like this? Isn't it a bit dark for him? I mean ghosts, demons, murders most foul, and all that junk? I mean it's about two men and what-not, and that's probably his thing but no way…" Pausing mid-rant as her face colors with disgust "Hey you don't think Andy was so twisted he would ship brothers right? Cause like, ew….Then again that wouldn't surprise me if that's what that poof was into, the quiet ones are always the freakiest…" her once disgusted tone shifting to one of dry amusement.

"Oh, come on Lilly. I can see how it might sound like too much love to you, but I like that the brothers look out for each other and care so deeply for one another. It's not romance, just emotion. And Andy has a girlfriend, so shush."

Lilly looks horrified for a moment. "I am not shipping the brothers. Ew. Gross. That would be like shipping us. Sick dude, just sick. Men shouldn't have… what does Dean call it? Oh yeah, 'chick-flick moments'. And let me tell you Mae, Andy's life was one long chick-flick, besides his girl probably pegs him." Lilly says with a wink.

"Dean's your favorite isn't he…" Mae asks, pointedly ignoring her friend's vulgar words.

"Well duh. I mean, a bit of a pig though, isn't he? But then again, I also think Sam might be um, batting for the other team. So let me guess, you prefer him?" Lilly says looking to Mae grinning mischievously as she sticks out her tongue. "Besides, I admire a man who cares for his family but doesn't pout and go all mopey about it. Shows he has his shit together. Plus, I bet he's rocking in bed." Lilly says with another wink this one more serious than the last.

Mae saves her place with a bookmark, placing it on the table, and takes a slow sip of her tea. "You are afraid of your own feelings, and that's why you can't appreciate Sam. Sam does care about his family, but he feels at odds with them as well. I think it's just because he's a lot like his father. I was always fighting with my mother. And everyone tells me I act just like her. So that's something. And I like the depth of devotion Sam has for his brother. Sometimes, Dean treats Sam like a son though, and that's never comfortable..." She trails off suddenly.

"Tch! As if. I'm like a hundred percent in touch with that shit." Lilly says rolling her eyes and making a disgusted face.

"With what now?" Mae asks, seeing through the ruse.

"That shit, you know..."

"You mean the touchy?"

"Like stuff, that...'

"Feely?"

"That. You uh, well… What ever, you know what I mean..."

"Warm tingle in your soul?"

"Stop being such a cunt, Mae…."

"Things called emotions?"

"Shut your face, don't you have some inventory to count or some shit?"

"Oh yeah, you are so in touch with "that shit"." Mae remarks sarcastically. She stands, taking their cups to the sink to rinse, listening to Lilly rant about 'evil' feelings.

"Bleh, normal people don't talk about that shit, dude. They just don't. Maybe you should see a therapist… Seriously. You need some good old shock therapy. That will fix you right up." Lilly says with a smile. "I, on the other hand, am so well adjusted. Obviously."

"Obviously. By the way Lilly, it's actually your turn to count bags." Mae pulls out a binder box and resumes her seat at their table. With a calculator in hand, she starts the boring task of balancing the books.

"Shit." Lilly mutters as she sluggishly gets up to start the count when the doorbell finally chimes. "Fuck yeah. Saved by the bell, literally." she mumbles to herself before turning to the customers with a smile, dog earing the book in her hand as she places it on the counter.

"Welcome to Cakes, Cookies, and Pies..." Lilly falters at the men entering the doorway and whispers "Oh my…" with a cough to clear her throat.

Mae looks up, startled by the quiet whisper, an admiring 'oh' escaping her lips before she gulps in a calming breath.

All parties pause momentarily, the energy in the room shifting just slightly. The two good looking men entering the cafe were definitely new in town, and certainly didn't look as though they belonged in the quaint little shop.


	2. Chapter 2

3

Dean was frustrated that they had spent the last several hours looking for any lead as to why their father was so interested in this Ethan Craft's death. Why was it so important compared to the other cases that seemed to be popping up left and right? However, like the loyal son he was, he talked Sam into coming here immediately.

To be honest, they were both searching desperately for answers and their father's continued disappearance and vague messages were starting to wear on him. He knew it wore on Sammy as well. They had barely wrapped up their last case before driving the 400 miles back to Sioux Falls without so much as a clue as to why, except the mentioning of Ethan Craft and his surprisingly mundane death, in yet another cryptic voicemail. _Typical Dad._

Here we are on yet another wild chase, given by Dad; looking up yet another strange incident without anything to go off of. Typical Dad. Sam let out a breath of frustration and rolled his shoulders as he scrolled through yet another useless article.

Dean really couldn't blame Sammy for being a bit sour, however the entire drive here had been one nasty fight after another and he was getting tired of it. He closed the worthless newspaper in front of him and looked up, preparing for the argument that was sure to come.

"Look, Dean I get it. Dad sends us coordinates and we go. I get that, but he left us with even less information than usual this time and it's not okay. I'm sick of being his clean up committee. I just want answers." Sam says with a sigh as his hands massage the oncoming migraine that can only come from arguing with Dean.

"Look Sammy. I understand; I really do. But Dad didn't send us here for no reason, and whatever he's doing now had to have been important for him not to be here. So let's just figure it out and get going. Perhaps after we finish up here, we can go up to Bobby's and see what he knows. Alright?" Dean asks Sam equally frustrated as he pushes the newspapers away from him.

Sam rolls his eyes, recognizing the good soldier speech, but appreciating his effort nonetheless.

"Look I'm hungry, I'm tired and we are getting nowhere with this. Let's just rent a motel, and figure this out after some grub and sleep, okay?" Dean looks at his brother expectantly as his stomach growls.

Sam sighs but nods in agreement. "Fine, but we are getting real food. No more of the gas station crap, it's gross and completely unhealthy. It's probably going to end up killing us before something else can."

Dean grumbles about sleep and eating on the road, but nods his head as they head back towards his baby, both just happy to be done with research at the moment.

When they get to the Impala, Dean looks around to see if there is any place to eat, and conveniently notices he parked in front of a bakery. A bakery with 'pies' in the name. _Oh yeah, this is happening._ "Awesome…"

Sam watches his brother's thoughtful look before following his gaze and sighs. "I said real food Dean."

"Sammy... Pie is real food. It's like the only food group that matters." Dean says looking over to his brother daring him to argue.

Sighing, Sam just puts his hands up in surrender. "Fine Dean, but we are going to eat an actual dinner tonight."

After that small fight was settled both brothers walked up to the door and opened it. Dean holding back his groan of pleasure as the smell of fresh baked goods wafted over him.

Sam just rolled his eyes at his brother's antics as he took in the site of the shop around him. It wasn't what he was expecting to say the least. The bakery was more like a homey bookstore cafe. Both their eyes lingered over the somewhat occult paraphernalia with raised eyebrows.

 _Well this is kinda weird. Is that a jar of sage? Why does a bakery have a jar of sage? Why are there relics all over this bakery? Do they even know what half this stuff is? Leave it to Dean to walk into a bakery loaded with supernatural paraphernalia… Did we really just walk into a coven? Does Bobby know about this?_ Sam thinks to himself, his eyes taking every little detail in, as a strange feeling of discomfort settles over him.

 _Mmm. Apple pie. No, cherry pie first… No, lemon meringue. Perhaps peanut butter...Do they have peanut butter? No, chocolate. What am I thinking... Apple. Apple is definitely the obvious choice here. Oh look Hot chicks and pie. Awesome._

There were only two girls in the café; one brunette sitting at a table, maybe doing homework. The other, a raven haired girl was in mid-stride to the counter.

 _Do they work here?_ Both brothers think as neither really seemed dressed nor looked like typical bakers. Not that either brother could really recall knowing any actual bakers. They just seemed too young, to… not dressed for the role.

 _Oh my god that case is full of so much pie, so much steaming hot pie. Pie for me, oh and hot chicks. Mmm, hot chicks and pie._ Dean thinks to himself before turning to his brother. _Oh no Sammy, no bitch face. Why bitch face near hot chicks and pie?_

When the raven haired girl turns mumbling something about being saved by the bell she welcomes the brothers almost too enthusiastically with the company name before being struck dumb. The brothers look at each other amused. Dean shoots a knowing look at Sam as the latter just rolls his eyes.

 _Oh great, another Dean groupie and he hasn't even opened his mouth yet. Why? Even homework girl is staring. Joy..._

Though Dean enjoyed watching the girl look like a fish out of water, he was really hungry and those pies smelled delicious. "Thanks! Glad to be here. So, pie?" he says, clapping his hands to break the stagnant situation which startles homework girl into motion.

At the clap, Mae stumbles to her feet, nearly tripping on her lace cuffed bell bottoms. She takes in the men's appearances, then she smiles and walks to the counter as well. "We have all kinds of pie sir. Apple, cherry, blueberry, rhubarb, peach, chocolate, lemon, plus we even have some original flavors."

Groupie, however, still just stands beside the counter saying nothing with a dazed look on her face. Homework grabs aprons from a hook behind her, thrusting one into the other girl's hands.

 _Oh God Lilly, don't make me put that on you…_ Mae thinks as she ties the final bow on her own.

Groupie seems to snap out of her stupor and ties the apron around her waist, as a red blush starts crawling up from her already showcased cleavage.

Now that the two girls were standing next to each other, the brothers were able to see the differences in them.

Homework girl was around half a foot taller. Her jeans showed off her curves nicely and she wore a lacy shirt over a dark tank top hinting at cleavage. Her chestnut hair had natural looking streaks of auburn and was pulled back into an elaborate braid. This one didn't wear much make up, and what she was wearing was light and earthy. Freckles gently highlighted her high cheekbones and made her viridian eyes all the more innocent. She wore a few stones around her neck, a few symbols that they doubted she knew anything about. She had one set of green stone studs in her ears, and light tan lines adorning her bare creamy arms showing that she usually wore a few bracelets and rings.

 _She must take them off to bake_ , Sam thought.

Groupie was wearing a dark colored wrap-around skirt that hung loosely on her shapely hips, with a cut-up, off the shoulder Metallica shirt, showing a surprising amount of cleavage. She had her raven hair pulled into a messy bun, her bangs shaping her heart face nicely. She had curves; no doubt about that. Her pale porcelain skin and almond eyes lined with a thick kohl made the golden hues all the more striking. She wore a lot of jewelry, mostly religious in nature; an ankh, a pentacle, a feather and an eye of Ra, to name a few. Even her long thin fingers were loaded with an odd assortment of rings. Her nails were painted black, her lips painted a deep red.

It was then that Homework, who wasn't being completely awkward, went into detail about the pie, and the different types they made. Dean was unusually attentive, and all but drooling.

Homework nudges Groupie sharply and shoots her an expectant look which leads to Groupie spewing the most awkward, mortifying words to ever leave a shop owner's mouth.

"Oh yeah and it's all homegrown, totally organic, and sweet with delicious flaky pie crust, it's picked from our home garden, and everything is fresh, and delicious…. and hot, and totally one hundred percent made from scratch, and prepared nightly, I mean every night… the freshest right now is apple. It just came out of the oven like an hour ago… Do you know that Massachusetts grows the most amount of apples out of the states?… but mostly like the Northeast, but … Yeah we still manage to have our own little orchard… Not to say our orchard is better than their orchard, but Mae here still grows all our fruit… But yeah um… Oh God…It's great… Did you know they make blood pie? Not that we make blood pie, or kidney pie.. Or even meat pies, not that I don't like meat because I love meat. I mean it's so much more satisfying than fruit..." Lilly rambles on and on, a look of almost pain and horror on her face as she looks pleadingly to her friend. _Oh my god oh my god oh my god… shut up shut up shut up. Why mouth? Why does my foot taste so delicious?…. Please just OW. Thank you Mae, thank you Mae, thank you Mae._

Mae looks at her friend in shock, stepping on Lilly's foot as she hands a pie menu to the intrigued pie guy. _What the hell was that? I meant go hide in the back and splash water in your face, you… you._

"Ummm, Lilly…I think he gets its. But thank you for the amazing compliments." Mae turns back to the men in front of her, not knowing what to expect anymore.

Dean was morbidly amused and Sam's jaw literally dropped.

 _Well at least we know this girl's off her rocker before Dean sleeps with her this time. Is it negligent to let my brother even contemplate sleeping with a girl like that… I mean the girl is practically glowing red with embarrassment. Is she developing hives? Oh god she is!_

Dean just looks the short one up and down. _Is that normal? Should she be that color? What's up with this chick? Oh, those are hives. Is she allergic to the pie? Oh no what if I'm allergic to the pie? Can you be allergic to pie and be a baker? Is she okay? Is she breathing? Is she guilty about something….Oh nope, I got that innuendo. Oh pie and sex, I like the way this one thinks, however I would like it more if I actually had pie…_ He smiles at the thought.

The taller one smiles stiffly as she offers them a menu, and asks "Would either of you gentleman like coffee? Lilly, you should go start coffee." Mae doesn't even try to hide the direct get-the-hell-in-the-back tone.

Lilly nods and even turns slightly but can't stop the words, "Yea coffee, how do you like it? Creamy? Tall? Short? Dark? Rich? Bitter? Personally, I enjoy rolling it around my mouth to really catch the flavor, it is always so rich. Tall, dark and gruff with a bit of salt. Man, do I love creamy things in my mouth." pouring out of her mouth, her golden eyes glazing as she 'hmms' before she looks to her friend. _Oh shit._

 _Oh my God_. Mae face-palms.

Sam now blushing stares at the girl in shock as Homework stares at her in horror. Dean coughs to clear his throat as Homework girl all but hip checks the Groupie to the back.

"Yes Lilly, go get the normal coffee started." Mae spits through a forced smile, shoving Lilly into the back.

"On top of it Mae!" Lilly squeaks gladly taking the cue to exit but not before unabashedly checking out the shorter of the two men, grumbling something about licking under her breath.

It leaves those left in the cafe all different kinds of uncomfortable.

"I am, so very sorry gentlemen. I do not know what that was. She might have been dropped on her head as a child. I apologize for that, uh, scene. Please, let me make it up to you. This meal is on the house, whatever you need, just let me know. You want to sample a few of our pies? We make lunch items as well, if you're interested. Lilly might be socially stunted but she makes a good pie. Oh, I'm sorry, I never introduced myself. I'm Mae, co-owner of this bakery cafe" Mae says with a forced smile. _Please don't let these men be the health inspectors, please by all that is holy in this world do not let them be health inspectors. Oh god Lilly I'm going to murder you if they're health inspectors… We literally just talked about this._

Dean smiles at the girl still just really wanting pie, not at all concerned with Lilly's behavior. Except it meant waiting longer for the pie. In fact he found her to be quite amusing. He had never met anyone who ramble flirted while blushing like that and found it quite endearing. He was even getting free pie from it… _Awesome_.

Sam on the other hand was quite embarrassed for everyone for that whole display. _Did she really mention licking? Like really? That was, well, uncomfortable, but not uncomfortable enough to get a free meal out of it._ However as he cleared his throat to say such Dean elbowed him the chest.

"That's mighty kind of you Mae, so can we get the pie now?" He asks shooting her his best smile.

Mae smiles and nods her head and quickly takes off, grabbing her largest tray and four plates, adding a slice of pie to each. She hurried it to the table where the men had decided to seat themselves. Mae smiles as she pulls an extra table over to men and places the tray of pie there with an apologetic smile, before looking at the taller man. "Hey sorry about that again, seriously dropped on the head is my best guess… What can I get you? Any drinks? Wraps? Salads? More pie? Actual food?" Mae asks. Her eyes widen and she quickly adds, "Not that our pie isn't actual food. Because it is. All the good things she said are true. Homegrown and homemade. I just meant if you are hungry for a lunch type meal." Mae assures them as she offers the lunch menu to the two of them, a light blush spreading on her face. _Oh god, rambling is contagious. What did you do Lilly… I. Never. Ramble._ She closes her eyes in embarrassment and takes a deep breath. _Please don't let them be the new Health Inspectors._

Sam looks Mae over again, trying to figure out a motive. Other than her friend being exclusively inappropriate he didn't understand why she was offering all their products to them. _Are they witches? Do they know who we are? Is my retarded brother eating cursed pie? Of course that would be what killed Dean… pie. Dad is going to kill me if this is how I let the good little soldier die. Pie, at some weird assed coven. Great._ Sam looks the menu over, "Could we have a few minutes to look over your menu, while my associate here polishes off," He looks at his brother who is mid shovel. Dean can only smile and give him give him the thumbs up, "his... pie?"

Mae nearly jumps away in her desire to burn her friend's ears. "Of course, I'll be back out in a few minutes, just take your time."

Dean swallows his mouthful, "Hey beautiful, can I get some uh-" he snatches the menu out of Sam's hand, "Coffee? Please. And uh, by the way. Awesome pie!" T _his pie is fucking amazing! Oh my god. I could marry them. Like stop hunting good. mmm apple._ "Oh and, no salt in that coffee please." Dean says with a wink.

Mae's cheeks burn red instantly. "Yes sir." She attempts a smile and then beelines it for the back. In a flash she gathers a coffee carafe, cups, cream and sugar, and grabs the … EMPTY coffee pot.

"Lilly!" She calls in exasperation, nearly in tears. _Oh my god, really?_ Mae moves quickly to set the coffeemaker to brew, before setting off on a hunt.

Mae finds her soon to be ex-best-friend scrubbing her hands vigorously at the sinks in the back, mumbling the words "Shame," as she sniffs at her soapy hands, "oh god I even smell like shame." She shoves them back into the boiling water, rings and bracelets discarded. Scrubbing her hands even more harshly she reaches for the steel wool. _Still not clean enough… maybe my mouth next… or my brain…. oh god why? Ra why? So dirty. Smooth Lilly. Smooth like a bulldozer hitting a transformer at three am smooth. Kill me._

"Samara Lilly! What the Hell is wrong with you?" Mae seethes unable to control the volume of her voice as her fingers itch to wrap around her friend's throat. Instead, she snatches the steel wool out of Lilly's hands before she can add awkward bleeding to her crimes against the store today. "Don't even. Your weird OCD can be put on the back burner. These might be the health inspectors Samara Lilly! You can't bleed into the food."

Lilly looks up guiltily. _Shit. Shit. Shit. I wholly can not beleive I just did that. Foot in mouth, oh shit! She found me…. Still dirty! So hot. So dirty. So fucked._ "Hey Mae, why are you blushing like a drunk anime character? Cause like... totally adorable. It's like right here" she says using the soap to draw a line from ear to ear before realizing what she had just done and immediately starts washing the soap off herself.

"You. You and your… you-ness. Pie guy asked for Coffee… with NO SALT! You!"

Lilly looks completely confused, "No salt? Who puts salt in coffee?"

"Apparently you when you ramble." Mae glares in absolute anger "I'm worried about the reputation to our SHOP after that stunt you just pulled. Seriously, if they are the health inspectors, I'm going to murder you. Did you have a stroke or something, what the HELL made you a rambling idiot out there?"

Lilly dries off her hands as she just blinks at her friend's uncharacteristic anger "Mae I'm shocked at you there was no stunt… I could totally do a stunt... I bet they have things… health what….?" Lilly says as she was talking over her best friend before what she is saying registers. _Whoops._ "If I said sex appeal, on a scale of one to ten how mad…?"

"I'm going to fucking murder you!" Mae seethes as the coffee pot dings..

"Oooh, the 'f' word and everything…" Lilly tuts her tongue, "Mae let's be reasonable here… There's two. We can share…" Lilly says forcing a smile on her face knowing if she was going to get it might as well have some fun along the way.

Mae lets out a groan of frustration, "And I had to make the coffee I sent your awkwardness back here to make…" as she rushes to the coffee pot.

 _So, right pissed, then… Awesome._ Lilly rolls her eyes, feeling another round of blush rash spreading down her neck. _At least Mae didn't make an ass out of herself to the fucking five-O of food. Who the hell looks that good in this town! I'm lucky I made it out of there alive. I deserve ice cream or a medal or something. Those guys probably think I'm retarded… Or desperate. Or both._ She thinks still slightly mortified with herself as she pouts. Even as she sticks out her tongue at her friend's back.

4

"Dean what the hell are you doing?" Sam whispers harshly to his brother, "Take a look around man, I think we stumbled right into a coven. Can you think with your brain, rather than your stomach for like two minutes?" Sam says shaking his head in exasperation. "Businesses don't just offer people food Dean, especially businesses like this. They are up to something I just know it."

Dean, still thoroughly enjoying the delicious pie, half glares at his brother. "Put away the bitchface Sammy, it's pie time." it comes out slightly garbled as he continues to eat.

"Really, Dean? I'm serious. Something feels off here. And look at the walls. That's a Pagan symbol over there. You can see part of a pentacle over there. That symbol right under the Metallica poster, I've seen it before in a book of spells. The jars of herbs all over the walls? The bundles of them? I mean that bundle is clearly wolfsbane, and that's not exactly used for aesthetics Dean. The candles everywhere? The occult books on the shelves? The odd behavior? God! Their prep table is probably an altar." Sam points out in exasperation. _God, Dean, a wall would be more observant….and a better conversationalist too. God I miss my Stanford friends._

Dean, still savoring his latest bite of pie, takes a look around. "Sammy, do you really think Bobby Singer would let a coven sit in his backyard? Or that Dad wouldn't have warned us about a possible coven? You need to think man. We checked Ethan's house for hex bags." Dean gestures with his fork, as if plotting points on an invisible line, "No hex bags. No hex bags, no witches. Now please, let me enjoy my pie in quiet. God knows you can't manage peace."

They both go quiet as they hear the yelling from the kitchen. "... might be health inspectors…"

Dean looks at Sam with a quirked eyebrow, as he mouths "health inspectors?"

Comprehension dawns over Sam as he gains some clarity on the situation. "Ah." _Well maybe they are normal… Oh god are those girls what normal means to me now? Well I guess Mae is normal. The other one, Lilly, she was a ball of awkward._

"You see Sammy, never doubt the pie." Dean says as he scoops another bite up, trying one that looked like it might be strawberry. "Mmmm, God this is awesome! Best damn pie I've had in so long. We should totally pretend to be health inspectors more often..."

Sam just rolls his eyes and kicks his brother under the table once he hears the coffee pot ding. Giving him the 'watch it' look.

6

Mae pours two cups and fills the carafe. _Lilly, you are soooo very lucky that bell dinged._ She puts everything on the tray and carries it out to the waiting men. "Here you go, sorry about that.  Good help is so hard to find these days." Mae says with her head hung in shame. "So, have you come to a decision, or should I leave you to the menu still?"

Sam smiles up to her, "Actually yes we did. Can I please try your chicken bacon ranch wrap? Oh and do you have anything fatty and greasy?" Sam asks looking to his brother whom just finished off the last of his pie.

"Oh, um, fatty and greasy? Not really. Um, more pie? I can recommend the spicy chicken wrap, or maybe a cheesy tuna melt?" Her eyes shift between the two men, not really sure why health inspectors would ask to try something with those adjectives. _Fatty and Greasy what are we Beef Barn?_ Mae thinks with disgust, as she grits her teeth and smiles at the men.

"A spicy chicken wrap and more pie it is then." Dean informs the confused looking Mae. "Oh and, where did Lilly run off to? Is she okay?"

"Oh, Lilly is just creating another apple pie. I'll go get started on your orders right away. Anything else to drink?" Mae asks as her phone beeps quite a few times. _I'm going to murder my best friend, regicide? Patricide? Matricide? What's the term for best friend murder? Friendicide? Yep. Friendicide. Homicidal friendship._

"Oh, I'll just take a water thank you." Sam says politely with his charming smile, being a lot more polite after overhearing the conversation.

Dean's eyebrow quirks as he looks at Mae's pocket. "You going to answer that? Seems important..." as it beeps again, and Mae blushes.

"Um, no. I have a feeling I know exactly who it is." Mae says with another forced smile before muttering "and I'm going to hurt her." through her teeth. Once more her phone beeps in a rapid succession.

Lilly, while working on another pie especially for the inspectors, mass texts Mae.

 **So can you find out if you know they are like, gay? Pleeeasse? I'll consider it all the gifts for the year….**

 **Gay or not gay?**

 **Are they?**

 **Did you ask yet?**

 **You're not asking are you?**

 **Damn it ask!**

 **Gay… I'm going to take your silence as they are gay.**

 **What a shame.**

 **Did you ask?**

 **I wanna know"**

 **Why do you hate me?**

 **What have I done to you?**

 **I'm sorry?**

 **Fucking ask woman!**

Sam, being discreet as possible, watches Mae as she gathers another round of pie slices. He notes that she occasionally glares towards the back, and slaps at her pocket.

 _I wonder what she's thinking. Why is she so nervous? And glaring at the other girl. Nevermind, that seems kind of obvious. Oh, now she's texting on her phone… calling in back up? No that doesn't make sense. Telling her off? That seems more on point… Wonder what could be so important her phone would be getting blown up like that..._

 **Holy Cow Lilly, just take a downer.**

 **4 chicken breasts on grill.**

 **Ask or I'm on strike.**

 **Now Lilly!**

 **STRIKE!**

"Lilly!" Mae seethes through the opening to the kitchen. She stops for a moment, noticing the taller man taking side glances at her and exuding a general discomfort.

Lilly gently leans her head out the serving window and stage whispers "Mae, be quiet we have visitors, and you're acting suspicious. They might catch on to us."

Mae gasps, stunned as she feels the overwhelming suspicion of the taller one wash over her as she just stands there gaping at her friend. Speechless.

"Dean," Sam whispered, alarm nearly shaking his outward calm composure.

Dean actually puts his fork down for this one, "Yes?" He answers in tight frustration. _Oh, this should be great. How in the world was my brother actually in a relationship. He totally doesn't understand girls. The only thing standing out to me is that those two chicks own a bakery, and can bake this well._

Sam's eyes bulge, he humphs in complete disbelief. He opens his mouth as if to speak, seems to consider, and shuts it. _Why doesn't he feel this? Dean is a decent hunter with good instincts. Nothing about this is making sense._ Sam settles for shaking his head and takes a sniff of the coffee. From the corner of his eye, he can see Mae back on her phone, seeming to text furiously. "We should consider our next step…" He ends begrudgingly.

 **I. Can't. Believe. You. Just. Did. That.**

 **Make the chicken, or I'm never talking to you again.**

Lilly reads the message from Mae, laughing softly as she flips the already browning chicken.

 **Carpe Diem Bitch ;)**

 **CHICKEN!**

 **GAY!?**

Sam was about to continue his thought process as to what he believed their next step should be, when Mae suddenly made a small noise of frustration. He looked up in time to see Mae, with a move that belonged to a baseball pitcher, hurl her phone into the back area. "Okay, Dean, seriously. Something isn't right here."

 _Huh? Did she just throw her phone at the other girl?_ A small smile creeps onto his lips at his own memory of doing that to his brother. Dean just shrugs his shoulders at his brother starting to feel rather full as he watched the less awkward one throw the phone with a quirked eyebrow. "Seems normal to me."

Lilly hears a whooshing noise as she sees Mae's phone sail through the air, crashing somewhere near the back sinks.

"That could have been my face…Crazy bitch" Lilly yelps with wide eyes pausing a moment before she smiles with amusement as she starts chopping up the chicken.

"I'm not that lucky." Mae shouted at her friend, as she shoots an apologetic smile to the two could be health inspectors, a faint blush dusting her features.

"WELL NEITHER AM I"- Lilly yells back from the grill scathingly, before what just happened catches up to her and she chuckles at what had just occurred. "Oh and by the way will you please ASK?!... Carpe Diem, remember?!"

Dean looks up from his pie, "Yep, perfectly normal. Just two hot chicks fighting over who gets me. It's like… dinner and a show. No wait, it's even better… It's pie and a rock concert."

Sam just shakes his head, "Eat your freaking pie."

 _Really, I just want to go home and cry. This is a disaster. Why are you creating a disaster Lilly?_ Mae brings the fresh round of pies to the table, as well as a water for the taller one.

"Did your friend need to ask us something?" Dean inquires, staring lovingly at his many pieces of pie. Sam gratefully accepts the water, feeling like he may need it after this new development.

"No. I have no idea what she's going on about." Mae blushes, gritting her teeth, visualizing every possible revenge she could get on Lilly for putting her on the line like this. _God, they are handsome though. I can't really blame her for enjoying the new guys in town. Oh, I can so get her back…_ her viridian eyes light up mischievously. _Plus two birds, one stone._ "Actually, umm…" Mae looks around for a second, giving the brothers the feeling that they were conspiring together. She zips over to the counter and grabs a business card. Pulling a pen from her apron pocket, she skips back over to their table.

"Here, Lilly has a question for you, if you have time." She writes Lilly's cellphone number on the back of the card, and hands it to the shorter of the men.

Dean takes the card with his signature smile, as Sam sighs deeply. "Well I'm curious, do you often hand out your friend's personal number to the Health Inspector?" Dean asks amused as the table shakes and a look of pain crosses his face as Sam shoots him a glare. Dean just shrugs.

 _Dean, what are you thinking? I can't believe you just did that… I have such a hard time believing we are related sometimes…_

Mae, tilting her head to the side in question, looks between the two men, "So, are you health inspectors?" She looks them both square in the eyes, for what, neither brother is sure.

Dean puts his fork down, smiling. He wipes his hands on a napkin and looks to Sam. "Look we're actually F.B.I, this is Agent Paige, I'm Agent Plant." The brothers both pull out fake IDs and badges, flashing it to the very stunned Mae, "We are here going over an investigation from earlier this week. It went down over there right across from your shop. A man got hit by a truck."

Mae lets out a breath she hadn't even known she had been holding "Thank god." She sighs, looking relieved before it occurs to her how bad that might sound. "Not that it's good that poor Ethan died… but just, you know, I'm…" Mae starts before Lilly interrupts.

"Mae dear, what were these breasts for hun? Surely you wanted them put to good use. Shame you would waste them." Lilly calls out sweetly as she sets the pies to cool, and smirks to herself. Good at least they were equally embarrassed now, and it was a lot easier for her to joke with Mae, and embarrass her if she didn't have to look at the two men in their diner.

Mae turns red at Lilly's comment thinking, _No, she didn't. Really? Lilly. Oh god I don't know whether to hug or strangle her. I can't believe I said that now they probably think I'm a sociopath or something. Great. This is just perfect._ As she double facepalms.

Sam looks at his brother concerned before mouthing "Normal?"

 _Damn it. Can't I ever just enjoy the pie? If Sam's right I'm never going to hear the end of it. Eh, could be worse. Maybe she just has a weird phobia of tests or some weird shit, what do health inspectors actually do any ways. Huh well that explains… nothing. Damn it. They're witches aren't they?_


	3. Chapter 3

7

 _I can't believe she threw her phone at me… she must be so pissed right now._ Lilly considers as she starts prepping two wraps. _Eh, she'll get over it. Health Inspectors huh? I've never seen health inspectors that looked like that… I'm thinking Feds… Can Feds shut down our business? Is it illegal to sexually harass Feds? Meh, not that I've done much harassing… Just made a fool out of myself… Does licking count as assault? Cause I think I would die happy if I just got to…_

"Spicy Chicken, and a Bacon Ranch." Mae calls out interrupting Lilly's wayward thoughts as she lets out a mini yelp as her blade just barely misses her finger. _Well that's not good. No more thinking like that with knives in your hand you idiot. God, why am I so hopeless?_ Lilly's head hits the cabinet making a thunk. Sighing, she finishes up the wraps and neatly places a garnish on two plates that they tended to use for catering with a smirk. _That should make the Harpy happy_. She places the prepared plates on the server window and dings the bell. "Mae love, it's up." Lilly calls sweetly as she goes to the back to wash her hands and arms, repeating the same steps from earlier.

Mae walks over to the serving window happy for the excuse to leave the men for a moment.

"So, still think they're normal bakers?" Sam asks in a hushed tone, while keeping his eyes on Mae, even more suspicious now. _Her reaction wasn't normal. This bakery isn't normal. Something is off. Seriously, off._ He smiles as Mae approaches the table, quickly placing the plates down in front of them. Before he can even get a quick 'thanks' out, Mae all but runs behind the counter.

Dean just rolls his eyes. "Look man, it was your idea to not eat at a gas station; so I don't know what you want from me. Besides, we don't know if something really is off." He shrugs, and picks up the delicious looking wrap, ready to take a giant bite, mostly out of spite.

Sam just levels his eyes at his brother. "Seriously? Don't eat that." Sam swats the wrap away from Dean's mouth.

Lilly smiles and winks at Mae from the window but at the look covering her friend's face, the smile falls. "Mae? Everything okay out there?" She whispers as she walks closer to their serving window her eyes looking over to the men at the table. Her once leering eyes hardening to a glare. "Need me to take care of it? I can call Jody if you want me to." Though she couldn't stop the heat rising off her at the thought of the two in handcuffs. O _h Gods, I have so many problems._

Her glare turns to a frown as the taller one pulls the shorter man out of their bakery. _What the fuck is that about?_ Lilly wonders as she watches the two men make a hasty exit. "Well they're gone now. Thank Gods." She exhales, before her eyes land on her friend. "Way to be a freak, Mae."

Mae exhales in a sudden whoosh, practically collapsing in the nearest chair. "Really? Lilly do you have any room to talk about freakish behavior? Tall, dark, _salty_ coffee huh? Blood pies? What were you thinking?" Mae drops her head into her hands, dizzy now that she's finally breathing somewhat normal again.

"Honestly? How would they taste…" Lilly murmurs huskily, closing her eyes for a moment before she shakes her head. "I don't know? I wasn't expecting them to just waltz in here... You know how my mind is perpetually in the gutter, and they looked absolutely delicious." Lilly sighs as she walks over and grabs the dish tub. Several moments tick by as both girls contemplate the last half hour, before Lilly breaks the silence.

"What got your corset in a knot anyways? Are they actually health inspectors or what?" She asks as she finally starts putting the dishes into the tub looking mildly impressed about how much pie they were able to eat. "At least they have sweet-teeth. We can always just bake our way into an A." She says as she looks to Mae with a small smile, pausing when she sees the look on her face. "What? The thought of cheating on a health inspection upset your delicate sensibilities?"

"Lilly, they aren't health inspectors. They're federal agents." Mae sighs as she straightens up in her seat, wiping at her face in frustration.

Lilly drops the bin in surprise and turns and glares where the two had been sitting. "Well fuck that. Ew. Really? Should I get the disinfectant? Gross. I mean I had thought that, but I'mma be honest it was more for roleplaying purposes… Why are the cute traveling hotties, cops? That really harshed my nocturnal fantasies." Lilly pouts, attempting to cheer up Mae, but in all honesty cops just put her on edge. Her face dropped in disgust as she turned and walked over to the purell pumping it several times so she could wash her hands.

"Well at least we have lunch" Mae says with a shrug helping Lilly pick up the discarded plates."I get the spicy one." She says as Lilly grumbles but relents.

After they settle in Lilly waits several moments before asking with a smirk "So, **are** they gay?"

Mae rolls her eyes with an exasperated groan, as Lilly bursts into laughter.

8

Sam pulls Dean from the 'little shop of horror…and pie'. As they get into the Impala and pull away, he starts in, "We are pulling up everything we can on those girls. The accident was right across from their shop. Mae seems to have known Ethan. They were both acting strange. And their whole shop is filled with symbols and spells. Seriously, Dean. Research. And we need to know what dad's journal says about witches or a spell to compel suicide." Sam pulls in breath, set to continue his persuasion; something's just not sitting right in his gut about the happenings in that shop.

Dean holds up a hand, cutting him off, "Alright Sammy, I get it. We've never faced a witch on our own. We need to hit up records and see what we can find out about witches or whatever else might be going on here."

Sam looks down, kicking his foot around for a moment. "Should we call Bobby?"

Dean glares at him. "Sure. Let's call Bobby. Boy, won't that be a fun conversation. 'Hey Man, long time no see, by the way, are you just totally sucking at your job lately?' Yep; great reacquainting Sam." Dean pulls into the parking lot of their motel.

"Well fine. We do the research on our own then. But we're going to have to talk to him before we leave." Sam sighs.

"Fine." Dean states, getting out of his beloved Impala.

"Fine." Sam stares at his brother for a moment, shaking his head, before catching up and heading into the room.

9

"Here Dean, listen to this. That Lilly girl has no records before April 1990, she appeared out of nowhere as a Janie Doe and after a trip to the hospital was taken in by Saint Mary's. She was then adopted in September, the same year. Her entire file is like suspiciously blank. The most I'm finding is from her school and therapists records which all pretty much state the same shit. That she suffers from a multitude of mental illnesses, the least of which is a serious codependency issue with Mae. She's had several therapist through the years. She has never been convicted of anything, but was arrested numerous times for suspected assault; charges were never filed against her though. Though, I'm convinced that her parents had something to do with it; seeing as her father owns like half of Sioux Falls since his family was one of the founding members it, and her mother is the fucking Mayor of it. She's been admitted to the hospital on multiple occasions, like well over forty, I stopped counting after that though The weird thing is, I can't get the records for any of the visits... She dropped out in junior year, and received her GED the same week of Mae's graduation. She had a surprisingly high GPA, considering how much school she missed. It's fucking bizarre man, I've never seen anything like this." Sam says looking through all the notes he had taken on the girl.

Dean lets out a whistle causing the other people at the library to glare. With an apologetic smile, he holds his hands up in surrender. "Okay that's a bit odd. How were you able to hack the therapist records but not the hospital's?" Dean whispers, curious.

Sam shrugs, "I don't know. I'm still working on it, but it's almost like…" Sam trails off, narrowing his eyes in contemplation.

"Almost like… What, Sammy?" Dean looks over at his brother impatiently.

"Almost like an entry was made, but all information pertaining to the visit wasn't recorded. No recording of illness or injury, no doctor's notes, not even a release date. I've never seen anything like that, if they had been wiped the admittance dates wouldn't exist." Sam looks up, confused, "I can't hack into it because it's not there."

"Huh, maybe her parents covered it up, maybe it all was lost before an upgrade, who knows… And Mae's records weren't any less fuckin' weird." Dean states as he picks up his note pad. "Yeah so, here's some happy history of sunshine and kittens. Both her parents? Dead. All paternal and maternal grandparents? Dead. She lost her entire family in the same year, all different reasons, when she was sixteen. All were upstanding citizens. Her mom may have been an eco-terrorist though." Dean says with a shrug "She was a naturalist, Mae's father was a doctor, good one too according to his practice's reviews. Mae was an almost straight-A student, had been set to be the class valedictorian, clean as a whistle, at least until her family- I mean , understandable, right? Something I find incredibly hard to believe is she's hanging with the Lilly girl. Also she inherited, like, a lot. An estate, cash, stocks; I mean, the works. Both of sides of her family were also founders. Mae is set for life." Dean grumbles as he stretches over his pile of folders, newspapers and yearbooks.

Sam nods. "Yeah that is a bit convenient. Say anything about her going to counseling?"

Dean sits for a moment, chewing on a pen cap, before nodding. "Yeah, in fourth grade, after she met Lilly. And then for two years after her family started dying. Like, weekly. Seems she went..." Dean leans over looking at Sam's notes "...To Lilly's therapists."

"Ah, some of the files mentioned that Mae was often in Lilly's sessions" Sam sighs as he dragged his hands through his hair. "Huh. Well Lilly has one hell of an obsession with Mae, that could be a motive."

"Wait you think this Lilly chick offed Mae's family? That's kind of super-sized psycho isn't it? I suppose it certainly puts it into the realm of reality, however nothing odd actually shows up in any of the death or accident reports. Old age, illness, and car accident. No similarities, just unfortunate." Dean says rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Normal, like Ethan walking in front of a truck normal?" Sam asks suspiciously, face scrunched.

Dean nods "Yep, like our kind of normal. Awesome." He sighs, before letting out a grown. "They made delicious pie you know."

Sam rolls his eyes, "You would think pie making skills are a redeeming quality. But, back to the case. I mean it makes sense. Kinda. Well as much sense as anything else we've encountered and it is an M.O. and a solid one at that. I mean it's obvious this Lilly chick isn't balanced."

"Great just great. Of course the psycho likes me… But I still feel like no one who bakes like that can be evil... Do you think she knows hunters are onto her?" Dean asks as he stares at a pile of folders tapping his pen on the desk lightly.

"Your guess is as good as mine, but with Dad missing, and Ethan's death… It's starting to look that way. And I mean what she's done to Mae, it's awful."

The overhead lights dim briefly, signaling how late it had become.

"Great, well the library's about to close… Want to go check out their house?" Sam asks, getting up and making sure to wipe his computer of their searches as Dean gathers all their notes and they head out.

"Won't they be heading home now? I'd be surprised if they keep a bakery open later than all the other places on Main Street." Dean says as they head out.

"Nope, they both deliver unused baked goods to St. Mary's home for children and the Wright's home for the homeless, there were a couple of newspaper articles about it."

"Of course they do." Dean shakes his head. _Upstanding members of the community, hot and pie. And of course a witch. Awesome._

10

"So they really live together? I bet they have lots of slumber parties… Hot." Dean asks as they pull up to 7000 E Mystic Drive, a mansion-sized house surrounded by lush gardens. Like, overly lush. All the flowers were blooming and not one plant looked like it knew fall was coming. There were even deer and hummingbirds flitting around.

"Well that's odd. Shouldn't things be, I don't know, curling up?" Dean said as he parked his baby at the back edge of the property.

"You think? I don't know, gardening isn't in my job description." Sam mutters he grabs an iron crow bar, the sawed off shotgun, and several salt rounds from the trunk, handing Dean his bag.

"Alright let's get this done, doesn't look like anyone's home anyways." Sam says shutting the trunk as the brothers make their way through the grounds which were quite literally thriving.

Everywhere the boys looked there were fruit trees and bushes, vines and strange herbs. Witchy herbs, like fenugreek, feverfew, elderflower, each with their own plaque. Just, all of it. There didn't seem to be a particular order to anything. It was certainly new to see a witch display there witchiness, so blatantly.

"Yeah, this garden... Just fucking awesome." Dean says sighing forlornly dragging his free hand through his hair, _But the pie._

"Right. Let's go in through the back" Sam says as he walks over to the back door, crouching to start picking the let. He let's out a surprised sigh when he finds the door was already unlocked. He stands opening the door, as they both draw their weapons and walk into the house. They both let out similar noises of derision mixed with confusion as they enter the greenest kitchen they had ever been in. As if outside hadn't been enough, the kitchen had potted plants littering it.

"Yeah this is totally normal." Dean mutters sarcastically, getting annoyed at the situation before making his way over to the fridge.

"Wanna bet there's human blood next to a freshly squeezed pitcher of lemonade?" He jokes darkly, opening the fridge to find nothing out of place. Just more fruit and vegetables, leftovers, several bottles of sangria, a drawer full of beer and pre-made meals, and, of course, a pitcher of lemonade with sliced lemons floating in it. The freezer was equally decked out with normal foods and several bottles of vodka. "Well they drink." Dean says closing the doors with a beer in hand. "And they own no dairy. Weird."

Sam looks up from the cabinets, having found nothing all that out of place, before looking over to his brother "Dean," He says in a harsh whisper "What are you doing?" Incredulous over his brother's audacity.

"Having a beer, Captain Obvious." Dean replies sarcastically as he looks at the fridge's door and takes a swig of the cool drink in his hand. Damn, nice brand. His eyes begin roaming the pictures covering the front of the freezer. One picture catches his eye causing him to take a closer look.

His blood freezes as he drops his beer, mid sip. The bottle falls through the air, smashing to sudsy pieces as it impacts the tile floor. Beer splashes over Dean's boots as he struggles to pull air into his lungs. "Sammy." He hissed through his teeth with a sense of shocked urgency.

Sam walks over concerned, knowing not many things would cause Dean to waste beer. Looking over his older, but shorter brother's shoulder, Sam is able to see the pictures that Dean is violently stabbing at. One with Bobby forcing Lilly in a headlock with laughter shining in their eyes outside Singer's Salvage, the other with Mae and their father inside of a bare bones looking bakery, her degree in hand and a very distinct look of pride in his eyes as he pulls her close in a side hug. "Are you serious?" His eyes sweep the other pictures, finding more of the girls with their dad and Bobby.

"Awesome, just fucking awesome." Dean mutters as he turns around and grips the counter tightly. Sam frowns at the pictures as he pulls out his phone trying to remember Bobby's number in his daze.

"Why are they in these pictures? They couldn't be this stupid. Hanging out with a Witch? I mean come on Dad, what were you thinking?" Dean grumbles to himself, confused and angry.

The phone rings several times before going to voicemail.

"Bobby's not answering, Dean." Sam says, worriedly, before sighing and trying their father's phone, again. The first two numbers were a bust but on the third number however one of the drawers begins vibrating.

Both brothers stare at it in disbelief for a moment before Dean pulls it open. With horror, he watches the blinking screen as it displays 'Sammy'. They stare at each other. shocked into silence, before Dean walks over to a wall and punches it, easily cracking the plaster.


	4. Chapter 4

11

Mae hums gently to herself, happy with the world after delivering food to the homeless shelter and cupcakes to the orphanage. Anyone else would be a white knuckled mess riding with Lilly; but not Mae. Whether she was just used to the higher speeds and quicker turns, or simply because of the trust she had in her friend, Mae always found the whole experience fun.

"Stop that." Lilly says as she pulls their van into the garage, next to her motorcycle. "Humming is so obnoxious. You weren't even humming to the right song. You need ta learn ta appreciate Metallica"

"I like some of their songs." Mae says as she unbuckles and steps out of the van.

"I know you like some, but you need to learn to appreciate _all_ of it Mae. You can't just pick and choose." Lilly scolds her friend as she walks over to the garage door, stopping to look at their van. "It's been like six months since we got this thing. We really need to do something, it looks like a pedo-van…" Lilly mumbles as she blows hair out of her face and glares at the van appraisingly.

"Why not? You pick and choose what you like to eat. You don't like every vegetable. And I ordered the decal, but I forgot to check the post office, again."

"No Mae, food is different than music." Lilly sighs as she fishes out the key to the door from her pocket, unlocks and opens the door. "And good. I'm glad, someone's going to suspect someth-" Lilly begins as she walks into their kitchen stopping as she lets out a girlish, surprised yelp. She quickly backs up attempting to slam the door on the darkened figures in their home, only to have a hand stop it.

"Lilly, wha-" Mae starts confused only to be cut off.

"Run!" Lilly yells as she hits the garage door opener, before dropping into a defensive stance ready to fight whoever was in their house. What she wasn't expecting was a hit to the head with some sort of metal pipe. Not hard enough to knock her out but enough to daze her. Glaring at the intruder's shadow she growls out. "What the fuck is this? Clue?" She punches the closet shadowed figure in the solar plexus, glad for all her past experiences and gained fortitude from years of abuse.

When that figure doubles in surprise the other slams his hand on the opener, and runs past her.

"Oh fuck you..." Lilly turns on her heels intending to disable him as well.

As both she and the Clue murderer yell out "Oh no you don't" one a bit hoarser than the other, as she gets pulled into a fight.

The fight lasts longer than either expected, but ends with Lilly in a Half Horatio Nelson. Puffing in exertion, the man slaps something on her wrists.

"You better not touch a hair on Mae's head or so help me God- I will end you." She grounds out. Growling under her breath as the man strong arms her into the kitchen, almost breaking hers in the process. _Come on Mae make it out. Make it out. Be safe. Fucking assholes._

She feels the shove as she falls into a chair and kicks out as the man tries to secure her in place. "Hey, watch it, witch!" The shadowed figure grounds out.

"Fuck! You!" Lilly seethes as she gets head-butted, dazing her enough for the man to finish securing her to the seat. By the time she regains her wits the man has turned on the light and is standing in front of her.

Who she sees just pisses her off more and though she knows she shouldn't she can't help but to utter "Kinky. Plant, was it? Not really into the whole BDSM scene myself, but hey, for some psycho fed I'll make an exception." She spits out the blood that had pooled in her mouth from the hit, hoping to cover the uncomfortable twist in her gut.

 _Great. Just fucking great. Don't get your ass beat like this for a few years and suddenly it's a turn on… you are so pathetic. Awkward. But seriously... No._ Lilly seethes as she glares at the "Agent" in front of her

"So who are you? What are you doing here? Just take what you want, but you better leave Mae out of it."

 _Great so now you can talk to him without making an ass out of yourself. When he has you tied to a chair. Wonderful, just fucking fantastic. Being held hostage? That's what it takes Lilly? Really?_

Dean paces back and forth in the kitchen, eyes never leaving the groupie-witch. _Damn witch, how dare she even bring up that sweet girl's name. Evil soul-selling bitch. God, just being in the same room as her is pissing me off. God dammit. Sammy hurry the fuck up! I don't want to deal with this bitch and the quicker you get back the quicker we end this._ The veins pop in Dean's neck and he white knuckles the girls' kitchen counter.

Lilly watches Dean wearily, very much aware of the acute signs of stress he was displaying _. Why do people hate me so much? I just can't even…_ She thinks even as she mentally prepares for what is about to happen. The slow rumbling chorus of White Snake's "Here I Go Again On My Own" reverberating through her mind... _Here I go again on my own, going down the only road I've ever known, Like a drifter I was born to walk alone…. Why do I do this? Why is this always the reaction… Oh God, he looks so pissed right now…. What did I do now?_

Without realizing it, she had sung some of the lyrics, catching her captor's attention to the slightly ironic song.

 _Awesome, bitch is even trying to use White Snake against me. Why are you identifying with this song right now? No, fuck her… Maybe this is like some new age witch spell… Nope don't care. Fuck her. Fuck witches. Jeez, I need to calm down._ Dean walks over to the refrigerator. _Focus on the facts of the case man… Ethan's death… Dad wouldn't have sent us out here for nothing. Son of a Bitch, was it a code? Did we miss a sign that he needed help? Does she have him somewhere? I should be questioning her, but she makes me sooo angry! Cold beer, I just need to relax._ He goes to retrieve a beer accidently breaking the fridge's door handle off as he looks from her to the pictures in front of him. _Dad's life, maybe even Bobby's, could be on the line if we mess this up._ He throws the handle into the corner nearest Lilly.

Lilly flinches, letting out a deep sigh as she watches the 'Agent ' wandering around her kitchen breaking her friend's things. _He's paying for that. Did he just steal one of my beers? Rude… Oh Shit. That's a gun. That's a_ _ **gun**_ _. Oh shit. He has a gun. They've never had a gun before… I'm going to die… Fan-fucking-tastic._ "Look. Seriously dude, I don't know what this is about… but I can see you're obviously upset about something… Maybe we can try this whole roleplay thing tomorrow?" _There that sounded Mae-ish right? I mean close enough right? That always seems to keep her out of shit…. Huh, I'm shocked that missed. So angry. Didn't think those pictures were that bad…_

Dean just gulps another chug of beer clenching the neck as he counts back from 30. _30-29-28-fuck witches-27-God, she's annoying-26-Sammy-25-24-Oh thank god you're back._ Dean thinks as the door opens, Sam is carrying a limp Mae, bridal style.

"WHAT THE FUCK! Hairs on her Head, I said! More than the Hairs on her head have been disrupted. I will fucking end you BOTH!"

12

Years of drilled self-preservation drives Mae's instincts to kick in at the word "Run". She turns and dive-rolls under the closing garage door. She stands up on the other side, waiting for Lilly to pop up somewhere next to her. She takes a few more strides away, watching as the door nearly shuts.

There's a clunking, and then the door begins to open revealing pants on the other side that clearly didn't belong to Lilly.

 _Oh no. No, no. No!… Lilly!?_ Mae hesitates for a moment longer, listening to a struggle on the other side. _Oh God, I need to call for help…_

Sam grunts in frustration as he knee-rolls under the garage door, knowing that he was losing precious time and she could get away. Not that it would be terrible if she got away. _But, she would never understand and we need answers._ He stands up, startled as a bag is thrown in his face. By the time he recovers, he can't tell which direction she ran.

Mae curses under her breath as she takes a sharp turn behind one of her older apple trees, exhaling deeply as she slips her phone out of her pocket unsure of who to call. Bobby? Jodi? _Who would do this?_ They had never had any problems before in their sanctuary and she was worried what this would do to Lilly. Biting her lip she looks around the trees and listened for any unfamiliar rustling. _Oh Lilly you idiot, why did you tell me to run? Stupid! Stubborn! Martyr!_

A sudden sound startles Mae into running again. Pass the apple trees she curves and heads for the back of the property. She jumps the few bushes in her way and prays that the guy wasn't an ace tracker or something weird like that. She pauses when she reaches the cherry trees, leaning on one for support as she again attempts to catch her breath.

 _Shoot, running out of orchard. Should I try to climb? I just need to get a call out._ She opens her phone and discovers that she has no signal. _Of course. Stupid technology never works when you need it to._ Mae thinks darkly even as she writes a quick text: **Bobby S.O.S.** She immediately sends it before dialing 911, hoping that it has enough bars to go through.

As the phone begins to dial, a man rushes her from behind, crashing into her and sending her and her phone to the ground.

Mae shrieks in fright as she struggles to free herself from the heavy man on top of her.

"Hey, hey its okay. We just need to talk, okay?" a familiar voice says, as he struggles to control her and reach for the phone. _I'm sorry, you'll never know how sorry I am._

Sam hears her strained plea "Get off me, get away. Leave me alone." Her voice is tinged with more than just fright, but Sam can't identify what it is he hears.

Sam grabs the ringing phone, pulls the battery out and tosses it to the side. "Hey, it's Agent Paige, we met earlier at your shop. We just need to talk to you." He struggles to turn her face up, hoping to identify himself and calm her down. _And while I'm wishing, maybe Dean could learn to love classical music..._

"You're lying. Get off, get off. The FBI doesn't break into people's houses. Just take what you want and go." Mae screams at the top of her lungs.

"Look, stop it. I don't want to hurt you. Please…. fine." He clamps a hand over her mouth, earning an immediate scream, albeit a muffled one. She struggles against him, making the already difficult situation all the more stressful, and uncomfortable. _Please. Stop. Squirming._ He looks into her eyes, hoping to reach her with a look. "Mae. Stop." Sam says tightly in a warning tone, causing Mae to pause her actions before feeling something hard pressing into her stomach.

Both blush as Mae's body becomes a flurry of motion. She manages to unbalance the still shocked Sam. He keeps a hold of her wrists as he falls to the side, pulling her on top of him, keeping her safe from any stray objects. _Please stop. Please stop._ "Mae." He pleads with sharp alarm. "Stop."

Mae, oblivious to his emotion infused voice, increases her struggle. _Please let help be on the way, please… Oh God, I just need to make it back to Lilly._ She pulls her legs up on either side of him, just enough to gain purchase, while leaning a hairsbreadth away from his lips.

Her actions cause him to pause all movement. _Please don't move. Oh God, what is she doing? Dirt. Worms. Boogers. Dean eating. Jesus. Don't move. So awkward. Dean's never going to_

 _let me hear the end of this… Assuming I live long enough… This is killing me._ Sam's eyes move to her shirt's neckline, cleavage millimeters away from his face, before swiftly returning to her eyes as he shifts uncomfortably.

Suddenly she pushes against his chest, breaking his hold on her wrists and kicks her legs up making her fall backwards with a surprising amount of force.

 _Thank god. I need a cold shower. Is this why Dean looks at so many magazines? To keep_ _this_ _from happening?_ Sam wonders as he exhales sharply, attempting to gather his wits about him. He stands up to continue the chase. It's then he notices Mae's limp body a yard away from him and rushes to her aide. He checks her head and sighs with relief when he is sure it is nothing fatal and gathers her in his arms, bridal style.

"I'm sorry Mae, but we really need your help. We just want to talk, I promise." Sam says softly into the unconscious girl's hair, willing her to hear it, as he takes off towards the house.

13

Still glaring at the one holding Mae, Lilly yells. "Put her Down! Down! Carefully. Down. Now. What did you do you damn ox?! Untie me this instant. Is she fine? Is she breathing? She better be fucking breathing. Fucking psychos." Lilly snarls viciously, even as she tries to look her friend over for injuries. Her face pales as she watches blood trickle down Mae's forehead.

 _Oh my Gods she's actually bleeding._ _They hurt Mae, someone actually hurt Mae. Physically. They might be serial killers. Wait, what if they're cultists looking for a virgin sacrifice? I mean I get she screams the part, but come on, the girl's a fuckin' nympho… Why is that where my mind wandered too...Oh Gods, no more paranormal books. Okay. Calm Lilly, calm. WWMD?_ Lilly thinks rapidly as the men in her kitchen have a silent conversation. "Put her down. Now. Please." Lilly grounds out, her whole body shakes with panic and rage.

The two 'Agents' look at each other, before the taller one says. "Look Lilly, Mae knocked herself out. I can't just put her down. She has a concussion. I'm going to take care of her, but I can't do that with you yelling. So you stop and I'll take care of her."

Lilly just blinks at the man in disbelief. "What?! Fuck. You. Do you know what level of fucked you are when I get out of this?" _I'm so letting Bobby know about this. And John. They would wipe the floor with these fucking brats._ "Look can you just let Mae go? I'm sure that whatever this is, she has nothing to do with it. Just fix her! Or let me do it. If you just let me check her I  promise I will behave." Lilly pleads with frustration clear in her tone.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right; I doubt this has much to do with her. However, we can't start talking to you until we get her fixed up. So, just sit there, shut up, and stop moving. Let us do our job. Just remember, we have her, so don't try anything." Dean bluffs, hoping to use the bond the witch had with Mae to buy a few moments of quiet. _God, we need to keep duct tape in our bags..._

Lilly bites her lip and swallows hard, concern swimming in her golden orbs as she shuts her mouth and just watches the two men with silent resentment. Her eyes narrow in concentration when she notices the way things started to blur when she wasn't focussing. _Oh Mae…. this isn't looking too great….Please be okay. I'm not a voice of reason…_ She sighed, even her inner voice was nearing hysterics.

After a few moments of Lilly being silent, Sam looks over to his brother "D- Plant. Grab a thing of ice for me. I need to put her somewhere comfortable." he says, shifting Mae's head to lean on his shoulder, getting a better look at the small gash in her hairline.

Dean looks around the kitchen, gathering ice, kitchen towels and a roll of paper towels. "Do you have a first aid kit?" He asks, looking at Lilly.

"Just let me do it!" Lilly pleads again. "I actually know what I'm doing and can use our balms better than you. This is my friend! Don't you think I'd be better tasked with this? I promise I won't do anything. Please?"

"Right, no first aid kit…" Dean shakes his head. "Paige, go ahead and…"

"No! No! Wait! There's one under the sink. The kitchen sink! Please don't kill her!" Lilly apologizes as she literally jumps up and down in her chair with frustration and fear.

 _I was going to say 'go ahead and put her down' interrupting witch, but I'll take your interpretation_. "Thank you. Go ahead and put her down. I'll grab the rest. Just, don't go too far…" Dean crouches down and begins shifting through the many items under the sink.

Sam carries Mae into a little sitting area just in eyesight of the chair Dean had the other girl tied to. He gently places her on the couch, using a small crocheted pillow to support her head.

Dean carries the supplies in and covers the coffee table with them. He opens the rather large case marked 'first aid', and gawks in confusion. _What the hell...?_

"Yellow, Blue, and Green in that order." Lilly calls out, concern coating her voice. "Our kit isn't… Just, Yellow, Blue, Green. Simple. Easy to remember...and the right order. It's not conventional, but it's mine and it works." _Everyone knows 'modern medicine' blows._

"Sam…" Dean whispers, leaning closer to him, "I ain't touching that stuff…" Dean's face pulls in disgust.

Sam rolls his eyes, "Just go get a bottle of Vodka or something. Hot water and soap; use what we have… The longer this takes, the more this is going to bleed." Luckily, it didn't look deep. Head wounds always bleed more than normal. He brushes a few strands of Mae's hair back from her face, noticing she seemed paler.

"Yellow, Blue, Green, You MONSTERS! This isn't the Dark Age's. Jesus! Are you going to use a rusty bone-saw and belt next…" _Oh Gods, I'm giving them ideas_ "...Just Yellow, Blue Green. You uncivilized fucktards. In that order. Simple and color-coded; supposedly idiot proof. Lies apparently."

Dean walks past her on his way to the freezer. He grabs one of the little bottles of plain vodka and puts it on the counter. "I said shut it." He glares at Lilly then turns for more towels and a bowl, he fills it with hot tap water. "So keep it shut."

Lilly is quiet for a moment as she jerks the chair up and down in frustration again, as she worries her lip with her teeth, concern for their situation mounting. "Okay. But can you please just Yellow, Blue, and then Green her? It will be more effective, and less painful than the Vodka." _WWMD? WWMD? I'm a bad Mae…_. Lilly huffs a defeated sigh, blowing her bangs out of her face. "Hey douche-nozzles. Listen. Yellow is for cleaning. Blue is antiseptic. Green is smelling salts. They are home-made balms, you Freaks. 'Color-code it' she said. 'It would be easier' she said. Lies." Lilly says as politely as she can but can't keep the bitterness from lacing her words.

 _Yelling is making me dizzy. Dizzy and nauseous. I know that means something… Oh Mae… Please wake up. Men are so, so… gah…_ Her thoughts paused as she felt her own blood slowly dripping down her face _. Oh fuck. I forgot about you._ She groans and her eyes cross as the sight of blood brings a fresh flood of pain to her temple. The room spins and Lilly has no choice but to shift focus from Mae and the scene in front of her to the floor at her feet.


	5. Chapter 5

14

Back in the sitting room, Sam takes his time inspecting and cleaning the wound on Mae's face.

Dean assembles the makeshift first aid on the table within easy reach for takes a quick look over his shoulder to make sure Lilly hasn't gotten out. "So, Sammy," he reverts back to whispering, "What actually happened out there?"

"Not now Dean…" Sam murmurs, still focused on Mae's wound.

"I mean, you looked all flustered carrying that girl back in. Almost like something more happened."

"Can it. I caught her, we struggled, she jumped off me and hit her head."

"Jumped… off… you?"

"Shut up." Sam stands, wiping his hands on a towel. "Right, so, what now? We can't just leave her like this; I don't want her waking up and freaking out. She could hurt herself again."

"We're just going to have to tie her up. Sorry hero…" Dean pulls a length of rope from his bag and ties her hands together in front of her and then ties her ankles together. For good measure, he wraps the rope around her a few times as well, keeping her arms close to her body, and her legs together.

Lilly squeaks with indignation. "You just can't tie up a girl with a concussion! In her own house none-the-less! She's going to have nightmares! You're ruining our house!" She seethes. _Beaten or ignored…. Beaten or ignored… But gee, they're both such awesome choices how can a girl pick just one? It's just my lucky night, tonight. Sucks to suck._

Dean rolls his head and shakes his shoulders out before turning his attention fully back to Lilly. "Why don't you make Mae more comfortable while Lilly and I have a little chat." he nods to his brother before moving back into the kitchen.

Sam nods, picking Mae up from the couch. He turns and sets off down the hallway, opening doors to find a bedroom. The second door opens into a spacious one, overlooking the gardens.

Lilly's stomach twists with the shorter man's words before the rest of the sentence becomes clear. "Wait no! Don't! No, please! Leave her out of this!" Lilly pleads. Tears fill her golden orbs as she ends up toppling her chair from flailing so much causing her head to bounce several times on the tile. Each rebounding is more painful than the next. "Not the best idea you idiot." Lilly groans out loud, mumbling a pain filled "Fuck." _Wrists first. No pain, no gain. Suck it up._ She tries to think of a new method to get out of her predicament.

"I said sit still, and be quiet." Dean says as his earlier anger at this girl starts up again and he grabs the back of her chair and sets it up right. Smirking at the sight of her blood, Dean stands back. "Look, cooperating will make this go by a lot quicker." _Though it won't be as satisfying._

Lilly just groans as the world settles back into place, a pout firmly on her lips. "Look, I really don't know what this is about… but Mae doesn't have anything to do with it… I just want to make sure she's okay! You assholes won't even give me that. You are the shittiest cops ever. I hope you choke on pie! But not ours, cause that would make Mae cry…." Lilly bites out. Her anger and concern are the only things keeping her jumbled mind focused. "Gods only knows what your ox of a partner is doing! Oh Gods. What is he doing?" Lilly frets, rubbing her wrists raw against her bracelets and chains.

"Your main concern should be you. You've put that girl through a hell-of-alotta trouble, and when she finds out what you've done I doubt there will be anything between you." Dean says coldly to the witch.

Lilly looks down in shame as she all but chews through her lip. "You shut the fuck up right now! I have no idea what you're talking about, but they are all lies! Mae knows everything about me! She knows about everything! And why the fuck is this so important that these are the extremes that you've decided to take, you! Just you!" _Concoossion? Whoo yea off subject…. Concussoin? Cuncusonsion? Yiip. Definitely one of those…_

"You shut the fuck up, he ain't doing anything but laying her down. We aren't deprived like you. We still have souls. No, we know what you did, killing off that poor girl's family. What was in it for you though? Or were you crazy before you signed your lease?"

Lilly's head tilts carefully. "A lease? What the fuck?" She growls as she wrestles with her binds which does nothing but cuts into her skin making her blood drip from her hands. _None of this is making sense, or maybe it is and I'm not making sense of his sense. Or maybe none of this is making sense. Maybe some sense, but not really enough sense for my senses..._

15

Sam arranges Mae on the big comfortable looking bed, propping her head up with pillows. He pauses for a moment, just looking at the unconscious girl in front of him. _I should at least take her shoes off… right? I mean, that's not weird. Weird would be changing her clothes or something. But just taking her shoes off and covering her with a blanket isn't weird. Why am I so awkward sometimes?_ He takes a breath and blows it out slowly. _It's because she's attractive, and needs help…_

He shakes his head and removes her shoes from her small feet. He takes the throw off the foot of the bed and spreads it across her. _God, this whole situation is weird._ He wrestles with himself. Knowing that he can feel something is wrong, but not understanding how to describe what it is or how he knows. _But, so far, me and my damn… instincts?... We haven't found good evidence. We've just terrified Mae and, from the way it looks, beat the hell out of her friend. Dean didn't even feel off about them earlier. Guess it's time to see what he's found out._

Sam takes one last look at Mae's sleeping form before he leaves her to rest.

16

Sam enters the kitchen, glaring at the girl, "Hey, we need to talk." He walks over to open the back door.

Dean glares down at Lilly, "You try anything, and you'll never see Mae again. You got it?"

"Wait what about leasing? A car? Is this about the pedo-van, thats not really a pedo-van, it's just for our shop. I swear we were gunna get the detail, but we just haven't gotten to it... Or wait, is this about the drugs? Cause I mean, most are prescriptions, I meant their not my scripts but- Oh shit is this about the poppy? Cause honestly, that's more for retail, wait- Off point I have the paperwork for the pedo-van...Just explain to me what's going on? I don't even know my rights… Can you at least tell me hers…. and, and I didn't kill her fucking family! That was traumatizin' for everyone!" Lilly cries out in fear as she struggles against the restraints trying to get free and check on her all-but sister.

Dean groans, anger rising in his throat, tasting a lot like bad whiskey. Grabbing her face in frustration he squeezes her chin tightly and grounds out "Just shut up and knock it off, before I make you." He shakes her face once to drive the message home before releasing her. He had no idea what she was going on about, but drugs was the least of his concerns.

 _Fucking ow. Well that was counter-productive. So if it's not about the drugs, then what the fuck is this about... And I think he just broke my jaw._ Lilly breathes out slowly, feeling her chin begin to swell. Tears of pain and frustration were swimming in her eyes. _I have no idea what's going on and everything hurts. Mae…. I don't know what's happening. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Mae, fuck did he do something? Are they doing something right now? Is she okay? Is she really alive? Do people actually think I killed her family? Oh Gods, everything hurts. What did I do to deserve this? Why does everyone hate me? Is it spreading? Is that why Mae got hurt? Cause what's wrong with me is spreading to her? Oh Gods, is this my fault? Oh Gods, this_ _is_ _my fault, isn't it? This is my fault. I did this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._

True panic begins to set in as she starts hyperventilating. Soon, a full blown panic attack kicks in. She tries to look around, blinking as the kitchen begins to swirl in and out of focus. The chains on her arms feeling heavier than before. The ropes tying her to the chair restrict her breathing. Heavy sobs escape between her clenched teeth. She tries to look around again, but the world seems to dim. Her breathing becomes more erratic and she slips into oblivion.

17

She's finally starting to look scared. _Maybe now I can get her to talk._ He checks the visibility through the square glass panes, and shuts the door. "What's up Sam, Mae going to be ok?" His eyes never leave Lilly's silhouette.

"What the hell did you do to that girl?" Sam asks looking through the door in concern.

"Not my fault, man. Girl can't take a punch as good as she can give one." He responds with a shrug. The burning in his throat begins to recede, and he takes a few deep breaths. "She's doing a lot of baiting. None of her reactions are normal. Her motive is unclear, and she is the most infuriating thing I've ever had to deal with. I don't know how she pulled this over Bobby and Dad's eyes but I refuse to let her do the same to us. There's just something about her, man. Sammy, I just don't know how it all fits together." Dean says as he rubs his temples. _God, why can't I put my finger on it? How did Dad and Bobby not see this? They would know… But maybe she knew they were Hunters and hexed them into overlooking it… Witches. Disgusting. Worse of the bunch._

"What's Dad's journal say about witches? Isn't there like a test or something? Or a way to confirm it at least? " Sam asks as his eyes dart back to the bedroom he left Mae in. _Why is it never simple for us?_

"It just says that iron will bind a witch's magic, and how they get their powers, and a bit of origin crap. They were just his theories though. They tend to always have occult books, and an altar of some sort. I think the herbs all around the house and her 'First Aid Kit' covers the paraphernalia aspect."

Sam nods, thinking for a moment. "Still, we have to be sure. We should search the house like we had planned before they showed up early. Guess they came straight home after they closed up shop."

"Yeah, that was a painful interruption." Dean says rubbing his sternum where a bruise was surely forming. "I'll start upstairs, you watch them." He finishes as he opens the door. _Why? Why couldn't she just be a normal baker, I don't like this; not the Dad thing, not the Bobby thing. Oh and Ethan, still haven't figured out anything about what he had to do with this mess. And certainly not the pie thing either. Oh God, I ate a witch's pie. Is this how they got Dad? Pie?_

Sam just sighs as he nods in agreement "Alright, let's do this then _." Oh not good. I don't like this, and I doubt Mae has anything to do with it, and now the girl is going to be freaked when we tell her what has happened and about her friend… Why does this job always involve ruined lives? Just once I would like to stop something before it ruined lives..._

The two brothers nod in understanding as they invite themselves back into the house.

18

Sam glances towards Lilly as Dean disappears up the stairs. He shrugs at her stillness. _I don't know what Dean said, but I guess it calmed her down._

Sam decides to check on Mae before beginning his own search. He enters the room to find her unmoved on the bed. The even rise and fall of her chest was a good sign, though it bothered him that the bandage had blood seeping through it. He sat on the edge of the bed for a few moments, just watching her. A slow smile took form on his lips. _I have to admit, she is gorgeous. And driven, considering everything that has happened to her._ He reaches out to brush the strand of hair off her face again.

At his light touch, Mae murmurs something unintelligible and a small smile graces her face. Sam feels his heart and groin tighten at the same time, causing him to jump up and quickly back away from the bed.

 _Jess…_

His eyes close tightly in pain and he flees the room.

19

Dean runs upstairs quickly and looks down the hallway which has several doors lining it. _Okay, bigger than I thought… maybe I should look for any locked doors first._ He pauses to take note of each of them, however only three of the eleven actually catch his attention. A door with pressed flowers cascading down it, a black one with a distinctly gold lily embedded into it, and a plain white door with a Celtic tree embedded into it. _Well there's a start._

He tries each of the doors the black and floral one are unlocked and easily accessed so Dean tries the Celtic door next, finding it to be locked.

 _Awesome._ He gets down on one knee to begin picking it; easily switching the tumbler into place he lets out a low whistle as the door creaks open slowly and he sees the start to a plant

cemetery. _What the hell is up with this house?_ His hand innately runs up the nearest wall for a switch. Inside the fully lit room everything is much clearer. A large window takes up half the furthest wall, and boxes and potted plants litter the floor. Hanging plants long since their expiration date hang limply and the room over all seems musty and gloomy, almost as if the room was in some stasis of mourning. A tingling sensation of unease courses through him as he prepares his shotgun and carefully enters the room. In the corner nearest him stands an antique desk where several papers are laid out.

Curious, Dean leans over finding each paper to be a in a different language. And ancient. _Well that's odd._ He picks up each paper staring at them and sorting through them before going through the rest of the desk, finding nothing of interest, besides assorted seeds in dime bags. _What the hell is up with this house and goddamn plants?_ He thinks as he opens a bag and sniffs. An odd, not quite pleasant smell reaches his nose and he can't help but curse as he turns to sneeze and trips over a pot, knocking over a box. Swiftly recovering Dean wipes off the dirt and quickly double checks to make sure no one saw that, he leans over and examines the contents. _Awesome. Just Awesome. I ate witch pie._ His eyes roam over several ancient looking leather tomes with various symbols etched into the leather. G _reat. Well, found the books, now how about the alter?_ Dean thinks as he adds the random papers to the box of books. _Can't we ever be wrong? That Lilly is going to pay. God what the hell is up with that, voo-doo-plants?_

Dean places the box of evidence by the door and looks through the rest of the room finding no alter and nothing else of interest before moving on to the floral room.

This room was very clean and tidy, with a few living plants hanging from the ceiling and standing in pots on the ground; a stark contrast to the room before. Nothing about the room looked like it actually matched, but it had a nice flow to it. The shelves had textbooks, gardening and cookbooks, and a smattering of different genres ranging from fantasy to historical, horror to biography. _Someone likes to read…_ The little desk revealed nothing out of the ordinary, sheet music and notebooks. He moves over to check the bed. He tosses a flute case onto a nearby seat and shoves several pillows and stuffed animals to the side. Under a lump in the comforter he finds Mae's journal. It must have been a new one because only five pages had anything on them, and none of it was helpful. Though he found the little sketches interesting. He finishes his search, and probably for the first time ever, stops and puts everything back in place. _Close enough…_

 _Third time's the charm right_? He opens the black door, instantly coughing and tearing up from the smell of incense. Unlike the other room this one was too clean. Like, anthrax-cultivating-creepy-clean. Right under the light switch a table was loaded with a whole bunch of cleaning products and an industrial size Purell bottle with a pump. _Well that's not overdoing it or anything. But at least this one is plant free. Thank God._ He sighs in relief.

 _Oh my God, check out these posters!_ His eyes happily roam over several classic rock posters, some of them even signed. Between each poster was a guitar braced to the wall. _Those don't look like they're just show pieces_ He thinks as his eyes land on the amp. The room held several pieces of furniture, all a deep cherry wood; a dresser, an armoire, a bed, and two full length mirror jewelry boxes. Built-in bookshelves lined the third shelves were loaded with only fiction and appeared to be in Dewey Decimal System order. The romance section was so large it made him balk. _Would not have guessed that one._ The bookshelves had drawers at the bottom, and Dean felt obligated to open them. Inside he found journals in an almost file-like system. Smirking he picked up the one from the year of Mae's parents death and skimmed it, finding the written words nearly illegible, and after a moment realized some of it wasn't even in english. Sighing, he looks through her drawers and under the bed and in the jewelry case, before opening the armoire and can't stop the "Son of a Bitch" that is ripped from his throat as he finds the alter he was looking for.

 _Third strike, you're out._

20

Sam leans against the wall in the hallway for several long moments, waiting for his heart beat to settle back into a normal rhythm. The thoughts, both welcomed and unwelcomed, pass through his head and he struggles to get himself under control. Not ready to deal with whatever internal struggle that situation caused, Sam decides to start his own search.

Every room appeared to be comfortable and made for entertaining. All rooms also seemed to use large windows to showcase the beautiful surrounding garden.

 _Huh… Lilly is being really quiet… … ... Shit!_ He takes off running towards the kitchen.

As Lilly came into view, he immediately knew something was off. He rushed to stand in front of her, stunned into silence. The side of her head was covered in blood, and though it appeared to be drying up, he couldn't tell if it had stopped bleeding. Two small pools of blood sat under her, where her wrists were raw and watched as more blood dripped into them. He shakes his head in distaste, _Oh God, what the fuck?_

He runs over to the first aid kit in the sitting room, grabbing bandages and towels. As he rushes back to the kitchen, he begins to wonder what she did to Dean. Frustrated, Sam thinks of the best way to stop the blood flow, uncaring of the way her tears had smeared her kohl lining and the dark bruise forming on her jaw.

 _Damn it._ He retrieves a larger bottle of vodka from their freezer and uncaps it, pouring it over the girls chained wrists. _We still need her alive. We still don't know anything. Not that she deserves any help after what she's done… But I can't let Mae see her like this before the truth comes out. She'd never listen._

He leans down to check her head wound, moving hair out of the way as he inspects the bruises and the decent sized gash on the corner of her temple. He rubs a finger over it to check the damage, ignoring her groan of pain. _Concussion, just great._ Sam thinks as he dips a corner of the rag in alcohol and starts dabbing at the wound to clean it. _Good enough… Crap, her wrists… Mae is not going to appreciate that either._ Sam thinks with a heavy sigh. He grabs another towel and moves to deal with her bloody wrists. He pulls the iron shackles up contorting her arms, in what must have been a painful manner, his disgust and anger growing at helping her.

 _God, you actually are a witch. Why would you try to commit suicide if you weren't… Wow, that's a bitch move. Kill yourself in your "best friend's" house and leave a mess for her to clean up. Jeez. That's... Evil… I'm going to have to clean this up before Mae can see it. Sick._ Sam growls as he starts to roughly clean the laceration around the chains and bracelets. It didn't seem to matter that he knew something about that thought was wrong, it just fueled the building rage. It isn't long before he throws the rag on the ground, vexed with the unnecessary jewelry. He glowers at the bracelets in frustration, before he looks around the kitchen spotting a knife. He walks over and picks it up, returning to Lilly as he begins cutting off the ones he can and ripping off the ones he can't. A small smile forming on his lips at the destruction of things she obviously held close to her. _Serves her right._ Picking up the bloodied rag he continues to brutally clean her wrists, causing the unconscious girl to groan out in pain.

After several moments of furious scrubbing, his eyes slowly begin to focus on the individual scars littering the back of her arms, hands, and fingers. _What the hell?_ He questions as his fingers trace over the rough marks, almost tenderly, before gripping the girl's forearms tightly. Anger floods through him at the reasons behind them. _Blood Magic? Clever way to claim this crap as something else. Clever witch. I'm onto you, and when this is over I swear… His grip tightening roughly at the dark thoughts._

The sudden sound of something hitting the ground pulls him from his concentration. But it's the soft cry of pain that gets him running.


	6. Chapter 6

21

Mae comes to slowly, feeling as if she had just been shocked. Her eyes shoot open, yet still she sees nothing.

 _Wha… what happened?_

It takes several more moments before the world begins to shimmer back into view. She looks around, wondering why she was in Gram and Gramp's room. Concerned, she tries to raise her hand to her head and nearly shouts out for her friend. It's then she realizes she can't lift her arm.

 _What's going on?_

Panic edges into her thoughts. She looks down and realizes that she's been covered by her grandma's throw and must be tied up. Memories flash and suddenly Mae finds it hard to breathe. _Oh God! It's not a nightmare…_

Mae begins to look around the room, telling herself that panicking wasn't going to help her or Lilly.

 _If only I had my pocket knife on me._ She thinks sadly. _But that got left in the van when we dropped stuff off at the orphanage and homeless shelter._ _Lilly will never let me hear the end of this… If there_ _is_ _an end to this…_ Mae struggles to sit up; dizziness and ropes her enemies in the endeavor.

Once she finally manages it, she takes the time to look at the knots around her wrists. _Doesn't look like I can wiggle out of these._ The thought doesn't stop her from trying. She also begins to listen closely for anything that might be going on outside the room.

After several failed attempts to free herself, she decides to try her luck at finding something sharp in the bathroom. She lies back down and carefully wiggles to the side of the bed. _Oh no, it's the high bed. Oh fuck. Yep, this situation definitely requires the word fuck. This whole night requires a lot of expletives... I just have to keep my balance while getting my feet to the floor. That shouldn't be that diff… uh ohh…_

The blanket twists around her and she slips off the bed faster than she means, her shoulder knocking into the side table as she falls to the floor. A small yelp of pain escapes her as her landing knocks the breath out of her.

 _Ow… Ow that really hurt. I hope that wasn't as loud as I think it was._

Mae pushes her face to the ground, attempting to regain control of her breathing. The sound of heavy footfalls outside the door reveals her fear to be true.

 _Lilly would have gotten to the bathroom… Lilly wouldn't have needed to though, because she would have had her knife on her. I just threw away the best chance I had to get us out of here. Because of a blanket… A stupid blanket!_ Mae bows her shoulders in defeat.

Sam runs to the door and listens for a moment. Hearing nothing, he slowly cracks it open, concerned when he doesn't see her on the bed. _She must have fallen, poor girl._

"Mae, I'm coming in the room. Are you alright?" He slowly brings his hands up in front of him, palms out, leaving himself open. _Hopefully nice and defenseless looking. Please understand I wouldn't hurt you._

He holds his breath for a moment, the only sound in the room the sound is a muffled, raspy wheeze. "I'm not here to hurt you; I really do just want to talk."

As he rounds the bed she finally comes into view. Little details stick out vividly to him, making the scene that much more heart breaking.

"Mae?" Sam breaths quietly.

She's lying on the ground, half tucked under the bed, crying into the floor. The blanket is twisted around her legs keeping her feet slightly elevated. Her hair covers her face and crumpled shoulders. Her whole body is shaking in time with the hard wheezes and soft crying.

 _I hate Hunting so much. Damn it. This case sucks._ "Mae, what happened?" He moves closer to her, kneeling down. "I'm going to pick you up."

Mae flinches, a strange sound escapes her throat as he gently scoops her up and lays her back on the bed. She says nothing as she lies there; Sam now sees she's struggling to breathe.

"Oh, you fell…" Sam says, leaning across her to prop her up better on the pillows. "Umm… there, that should help."

Mae continues to stare up at him, searching his face; his concern and guilt almost swamping her.

They stay that close until Sam hears her breathing return to normal. He watches her as she still looks harshly at him.

 _This isn't making sense… What are they looking for? They aren't FBI; what could they possibly want from us?_ "Why would the FBI break into my house?" Mae finally asks.

Sam looks away for a moment. _How in the world do I even make up a story? This is so confusing. I shouldn't feel so..._

"SAMMY!"

Sam jumps at the sound of his name.

Running footsteps tromp down the stairs and past the door.

"In here!" He yells before looking back towards Mae. "Umm… heh… I'll come back after I talk to him. OK?" He smiles warmly at her.

"Umm… OK?" Mae watches as he walks out the door.

 _Who's Sammy? Samara? What the hell is going on?_

22

"What is it Dean?" Sam whispers, walking away from the closed door.

He shakes his head, as if clearing it, before looking over his brother's shoulder at the still unconscious Lilly.

"I found an altar and look at these books!" Dean says as he shoves the box of books into Sam's arms forcing him to catch them. "There was a locked room full of dead-voo-doo plants and these damn books. Her creepy-ass Anthrax room had an altar in the cabinet, just chilling." Dean grounds out as he glares at the offensive texts in his brother's arms. "I can't make head or tails of the books, but the images are enough for me."

Sam frowns "Well it's confirmed then. We need to find out what she did to everyone. There are too many coincidences like the call about Ethan, Dad and Bobby not answering their phones. Just, God! How the Hell did they fall for this? Her stupid act of the poor, awkward girl? That doesn't seem right. She must've hexed them." He says as he adjusts the books in his arms selecting a thinner one and slowly thumbing through it carefully.

"What was on the altar?" He asks as his eyes scan through the pages looking for anything that he might recognize. _I knew there was something off with that girl._

"All the usual suspects. An athame, a goblet, candles, figurines, used herbs. A loaf of bread on a golden plate, I don't know what that was about but- It just, the whole nine yards. Awesome, right?" Dean finishes sarcastically.

"What we need to figure out is how much Mae knows, and why her?" Sam says as he adjusts the books and both brothers stare at one another for a moment. Different emotions and theories swirling in their minds but one thought resonates between the two of them loudly: _That witch will pay._

23

 _Warmth, warm and floaty? What the Hell is this feeling? Mmm feels so familiar… Huh… And who the Hell is making so much noise. Damn, did we have another charity thing today? Mae is going to kill-"_ Lilly startles awake trying to assess her situation when pains sweeps through her like a punch to the gut. _Shit! Mae… what the fuck… wait no… Cops? No that's not quite right…. Shit. Mae? Mae. Was she here? Oh, shit…_

"Mae!" Lilly yells hoarsely. Concern for her only friend courses through her as she swallows a wave of nausea. " **MAE**! Are you Okay!" _Fuck! Ow, ow! Truck. A truck hit me. Or maybe someone threw me in a fire. Everything hurts and burns. Maybe they hit me with a truck then detonated it as it went into reverse? That actually seems like too on-point. Oh, and look! I know that sink. Hey, that's_ _our_ _sink… Shit. That's right. They are in our house. Fan-fucking-tastic. Still haven't heard from Mae…_

"MAE! Answer me! You stupid fucking harpy!" _Please be okay…. I will never forgive myself for this. So help me Gods, if I get out of this I will murder those men._

"LILLY!? Are you okay?!" She hears called back as she releases a sigh of relief.

Lilly looks and down at her blood soaked shirt and feels the throbbing of her head and wrists come back tenfold. "Yeah, I'm just super." _This is familiar too. God, I fucking loathe people._

"Sam, I'm going to go deal with the witch. You need to go get Mae and bring her out here." Dean grabs the photos from his pocket and a few of the books from Sam, tipping the rest onto the floor.

"Dean, do we really need to talk to them together? We could just-" Sam begins hesitantly when Dean abruptly cuts him off.

"Sam-" Dean growls, his tone taking a new heat, and for a moment he sounds just like their father. "Go. Get. The. Girl."

He turns his back on Sam and walks into the kitchen, ready to face whatever this witch attempted to throw at him. _Bring it._

24

"What's going to happen now?" Mae whispers as Sam walks back in the room. She watches him frown and look at the open door.

"Look, the other guy is going to be asking some questions. Please, just answer them." He leans down to scoop her up, blanket and all.

"I'm not a child, I can walk. I don't need you to carry me." She trembles as she says it, but the majority of it was spoken with an elegant regalness. _Please, just give me_ _a small advantage…_

Sam smiles with a small huff. It's not like she's the one who did this. But her head injury…

 _He's thinking about it!_ _Yes… yesss… thinking is good…._

"Asses, yours and hers. Now!"

Sam flinches at Dean's yell, "Sorry Mae, he sounds pissed. We should get out there…"

Without hesitation, Mae finds herself being held bridal style in the arms of a stranger. A tear falls down her cheek and without even realizing what she's doing, she leans her head onto his shoulder.

Sam shifts, shoving down the random happiness that came from that simple gesture of trust.

25

Dean enters the kitchen; he spits out "You. Shut. Up." at the witch, who is staring at the ceiling in some sort of trance.

Her lips stretch into a smirk at his words. "Oh you certainly are taking the extra icing with the cake today…" She breathes through the pain. "My silence? So not happening. Would be smart if it did though, wouldn't it? Probably easier too, I suppose. Never claimed to be smart, and I'll be honest, the easy ways boring." Lilly slurs as she eyes the 'agent', trying to figure out his angle. "What did you do with Mae? Beat on her too? Cause I promise I'm much more satisfying ta hit on, or is the fighting back a turn off for ya?"

Dean breathes out and walks over to the girl contemplating backhanding her before thinking better of it, and grabbing her jaw instead, squeezing roughly. "I. Said. Shut. Up."

Lilly flinches as her eyes narrow. "Not. Happening." She responds meeting the challenge.

Dean's nostrils flare as he grips tighter for one last moment before he releases her head with a painful quick jerk, and backs away in disgust.

"

Asses, yours and hers. Now!" Dean yells over his shoulder as he turns away from the girl cracking his knuckles in frustration.

Lilly and Dean spend the next several moments in uncomfortable silence, staring at each other in obvious disdain.

 _This is fun, staring contest with a sociopath. Cool. Cool. Can add that to my lists of achievements… Does it count if one of my eyes is swollen shut? I mean, I don't feel like it's necessarily an advantage, but it's easier to just focus on keeping one eye open. No, probably not. Eh. Mae where are you?_ "Ha! You blinked; I win! Suck it." Lilly cheers as the taller agent brings Mae into the room bridal style, ropes tied around her wrist and ankles.

The taller one looks to the ground as he places Mae on another chair.

"Sorry." He says lowly, though it's unclear whether it's to Mae, or his partner.

Mae looks around her kitchen with wide eyes as Lilly just shoots her a shit-eating grin.

"Sup? I missed you. We need to stop with these unscheduled appointments. I had several very important shows to watch. Next time, tell your stalkers to wait for the weekends. This is so inconvenient." Lilly says rather flippantly causing Mae to shrug her shoulders.

"Lilly that's not really something I can schedule- Wait. No, Lilly are you okay? You look awful." Mae admits softly, as she looks over Lilly with concern.

Lilly's mouth opens to respond to her but Dean cuts her off. _Rude much?_

"Ok, this is how it's going to be. I'm going to ask questions, and you _are_ going to answer them. Capeesh?" Dean grabs another chair and sits in it backwards.

Sam leans against the counter angled to Mae, watching her face very carefully.

"Just ask your questions, we have nothing to hide." Mae states, looking between the two men. _Why are they scared!? They are the ones in charge right now; why are they scared? Am I projecting?_

Lilly looks at the 'agent' with a frown. _Uh huh. Let's see where this is going… Cause they've already shown they will hurt Mae. Then again… Nope. Never mind. Don't want to think she did that to herself. No one gets the benefit of the doubt tonight. Nyah._

Dean's quiet for a moment as if waiting for Lilly's protest, before looking at Mae. "Awesome. So, question number one. This man, how do you know him?" Dean shoves the first picture in their faces, a small vein throbbing on his forehead.


	7. Chapter 7

26

Lilly looks at the picture and rolls her eyes "I have no idea. Customer would be my guess? Mae, he look like a customer to you?" _Why do they care about John? What the fuck? Plot twist much?_

"Yes, a customer." Mae agrees.

Sam walks closer to the group and squats down in front of Mae. "So, a _random customer_ , who took a picture with you after you graduated college last year? A _random customer_ that came to a party for you? In a shop that wasn't yours yet?" Sam looks into her eyes, feeling very bad that this was the approach that they had to use.

"Technically, it was our shop two weeks before that picture. Thank you very much." Lilly can't help but correct, causing both men to glare at her. "Eh, setting facts straight. You're the ones who wanted answers." She shrugs.

"Whaa.. How do you know when we got the sho...?" Mae asks slowly, her soft voice trembling with a hint of fear. _Oh God, did they look into us before coming up here? That's new. That's weird and scary. And new._

Dean glares from one girl to the next, "Really? You want to stick to the regular Joe Schmo customer story?"

"Yep" Lilly says with a smirk as she pops her 'p' blinking innocently at the two men in front of them. That caused the arrogant one who was straddling their chair like he owned it, and their home, to become irritated. Visibly so, if his suddenly clenched jaw had anything to say about it. As Mae just nods in affirmation.

"Yeah, ok. So, what about this guy?" Dean shoves the picture of Lilly and Bobby in her face. "Who's he? Another random customer, playing mechanic with you?" _God damn it; it's like talking to the wall. Fucking Christ. Witches are still human, these girls aren't immortal; they should certainly care more._

 _Why those photos? Why Bobby and John? Does this really have nothing to do with us this time?_ "What…" Mae starts, but is interrupted by Lilly.

"Well obviously not. Does a junk yard look like a bakery, dumbass? For stalkers, you guys kinda suck... Gods! You guys blow at researching. I mean, you musta researched us right? You _kind of_ know when we got the bakery, but you don't know who the town drunk is? You guys are **bad** at this." Lilly says, uncomfortable with the direction the questions are going. _I'm very confused. Are these men why John and Bobby are so secretive? Fucking nut jobs. Of course they would choose to come after_ _us_ _... Great. If Mae gets hurt because of this I'm going to kill all four of them. Damn men. Well at least these two are quick to anger; I can use that…_

Mae looks over at Lilly for a moment before nodding in confirmation.

Sam watches Mae for a long moment. _She was going to say something._

The brothers both glare at Lilly before they look at each other and nod.

"I got this one." Dean says.

"Wait.. What?" Mae tries to ask.

"What the fuck does that mean?!" Lilly demands. "Wait! No, Don't..."

Sam sighs ignoring both girls and grabs Mae, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Both girls scream out in protest as Sam walks with Mae back to the room he had her in before.

"Lilly!" Mae cries out.

"You son of a bitch, if he hurts one hair on her fucking head, I'm not joking when I say I will fucking end him. Then I will end you. Happily, with much fervor. I will find a fucking way. I swear it on everything dear to me! You got that?!" Lilly seethes, literally shaking with rage, as she stares down the man in front of her, her golden eyes flashing.

The man in front of her just rolls his eyes, ignoring the warning in hers.

"Those are iron, bitch, not happening. This would be a lot easier if you just answered the questions."

Biting her lip in concentration she pauses when she tests her cuffs. _My bracelets… really? Like this wasn't awful enough. God! I just… This whole situation sucks…_ Lilly sits, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, even as she swallows the urge to scream and continues to try to get out of the iron cuffs. _God, I feel like someone tried to quarter me… Everything is sore... What the actual fuck?_

Dean just glares at the girl before swiftly standing up, knocking down the chair in annoyance and impatience. _I'm not sure how this girl is getting under my skin this easily. And why is she so confrontational in this situation? Any witch worth their salt would know what was coming and this girl is foolish to be egging it on._

"You're not really in the position to threaten anyone, witch." Dean snarls as he paces again never having felt this level of disdain for another human before. That's what witches are; humans that served a darker power. He never could understand the appeal.

"Dude, I don't know who you are or what you want from us, but I promise I am not joking when I say they're not threats, they are promises. I will make you…" Lilly says calmly before the short one back hands her.

She Spits out another mouthful of blood, before she smiles. "Going to have to do worse than that, cowboy." _Fuck him if he gets to call me some ridiculous pet name, well two can play this game… douche._

Dean just glares at her as he crouches at her level and pulls on her hair harshly so she can see the seriousness marring his features. Having no choice but to look at him, blood dripping out of her mouth, they have a stare down.

"I'll get you to talk, witch, and when this is done and we figure out what you two know about the men in those pictures, _I_ will enjoy ending _you_." He says, using her own threat against her.

Lilly, pissed at his mocking, doesn't hesitate to spit the blood pooling in her mouth in his face.

His eyes open wide before quickly being replaced by a nasty glare. He smacks her again before deftly backing away and wiping the blood off his face, his glare quickly morphing into a look of disgust. _Awesome. Just when I thought this couldn't get worse. Gross._

"That was disgusting." He spat as he all but ran to their sink splashing water on his face while he grabs a rag quickly and roughly wiping it off. "Gross."

" _You're_ disgusting." She quipped back rather lamely still staring at the ceiling, but with a wider smile. _Worth it. Serves him right. Pulling on my hair... What the fuck is that? Asshole better not even think of trying any of these stunts on Mae. Why does he keep calling me a witch? Pretty lame pet name… Not that, you know, cowboy's better… Why am I thinking about this? Oh fuck… Yeah, concussion, right. Well then…._ Her face morphs into a look of sheer contemplation giving her an almost dreamy look as Dean continues to scrub his face.

"Look, this would go easier on you if you just answered the questions." Dean states, snapping the girl out of whatever revelry she was having so roughly she that she took several seconds to look angry again as he leaned against a counter on the opposite side of the room to her, lending some space between him and the girl. It also got him out of spitting distance. _Disgusting bitch_.

"Fuck off." _Lies, it never goes easier when someone 'answers the questions'. Death just comes swifter. Nope. I know this plot. Not happen'._ Lilly scoffed as she rolled her eyes yet again, albeit more slowly than usual, careful not to make too jarring of motions lest the psycho connect the dots and use her concussion to his advantage.

"Look just **tell** me _who_ is the guy hugging you? Or just tell me _where_ he is." Dean says, still annoyed but trying to keep it in check. She wasn't going to be of any use if he ended up killing her before finding out what she knew.

 _Stupid stubborn witch, with ruining the pie. And Mae's life maybe. And doing something awful with Dad and Bobby. And the pie. What type of monster ruins pie? Pies can't do anything._

"Billy Bob Thornton, and it's not a hug; it's a serious battle for the last bag of skittles. And last I checked, he was still hanging out with Old MacDonald down on the farm." She replies smartly.

Dean groans, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration as he closes his eyes to think for a moment.

Lilly takes advantage of her captor's frustration and works the last of the cuff off her wrist with a smirk.

Dean turns in disbelief when he hears the clang of metal hit the floor and the girl huff in pain and annoyance.

 _Whoops! That wasn't supposed to happen. Not that I have much experience of being kept hostage in my own home._ She thought sarcastically, bitter about everything right now _. Oh Bobby, we are so having a having a talk about your life if I make it out of this. Now if I can just…. Oof! Nope. Heavy asshole_.

Dean was on top of her before the shackles stopped clanging in the quiet kitchen. He head butted her once again before grabbing the shackles off the floor, and clamping them on her wrists again.

Lilly hissed in pain as he closed them tighter this time. The cold metal was cooling even as it chafed her raw wrists.

When the room stopped spinning she let out a groan. She swallowed the vomit that was trying to crawl out of her esophagus. _Shit. Concussion. How do I keep forgetting that? … Was there always two of him?_

Lilly sighs and swallows deeply, closing her eyes as she tries to concentrate on making things stop spinning and getting the black dots that cloud her vision to dissipate.

Dean was closer now, watching her like a hawk. "Try that stunt again and I'm going to shoot your thigh full of rock salt."

Lilly is silent for a moment; her eyes still tightly shut. She's ignoring the 'agent' to the best of her ability. The vertigo and nausea finally subside, so she opens one eye at a time and continues the glaring contest from their previous Texas stare-down. A tense silence settles over the two before she breaks it by chuckling darkly, making Dean quirk his eyebrow.

 _Weirdest response to that, ever. Awesome. Just awesome._ He thinks morbidly.

"So, you've come into our house, to look through our shit, beat me, tie me down, chase my best friend down like a dog, probably beating her too. Then you demand answers to questions I would rather die than answer, and now on top of all of that you're going to shoot me?" Lilly asked in a deceivingly calm tone that put Dean on edge.

Dean just nodded his head as if the answer was obvious, smirking as her eyes narrowed.

"Okay then… just checking. My therapist always says to confirm what you understand to affirm what's happening. She thinks I'm crazy. I just think people are out to get me. You'd be surprised how often this kind of thing happens, actually. Kinda funny. Not that you would find it funny, since you're, well… A sociopath or something, but… Yeah. The situation has never involved a gun before. So it's never gotten this serious. Kinda curious myself…. But kinda, not. Might be the… Hey! I have a great idea! Can we just get Mae back in here? She helps." Lilly said with a serene smile, one that was even more unnerving due to the blood dripping out over her lips and down her chin. She looked more reserved and calm than she had in the entire time he had known her.

Dean looks at the girl in front of him, confused. She stares at him expectantly as she tries to get out of the shackles again.

After several moments of no response from the man in front of her she shrugs as the words "Fine. Do it then, cowboy. I've had worse done by better people." _Fuck it. Can't hurt worse than other things I've gone through… and it's just rock salt… and chances are these psychos are going to kill us anyways, might as well do it on my terms. Besides, if this psycho fuck stays focused on me, maybe Mae can talk herself free from the other psycho… Or not… I really am lost here. Note to self: Don't be awkward. Don't offer hot, salty coffee, means different things to different people. Like to me it's 'I want to suck your dick'. To 'Agent Asshole' it's 'shoot someone with rock salt'. Got it._ She begins laughing out loud at the irony of her thoughts.

Dean, shocked at the girl in front of him, grabs his gun off the table and pushes the muzzle into her thigh roughly. _She trying to call a bluff or something? Maybe she's something else? I don't remember any other witch being this willing to die….Or laughing. Does she know something I don't know? Shit. Stupid bitch. I hope this stings._ "Didn't have to be like this…" He says slowly, but with little regret as he cocks it. _Girls got a set of stones, I'll give her that. Death wish, too apparently. Who spouts off like this to a guy with a gun? She has got to have the least amount of self-preservation out of every damn thing I have ever faced. Crazy bitch._


	8. Chapter 8

26

Sam, once again, brings Mae to the bedroom. He slams the door behind him, scaring another bout of screams from of Mae.

"Mae, please stop screaming. We know you know more; you were going to say something, but Lilly started talking before you could." He gently swings her off his shoulder and props her into a sitting position.

After a few moments Mae stops screaming and reverts to silence, interrupted with an occasional sob. He sits across from her on the edge of the bed. Time passes as they just sit there staring at each other in silence. Well, almost silence; sounds from the kitchen occasionally reach the room.

"Look Mae, I'm sorry. This isn't how I wanted tonight to go. But I do have a few questions that I need you to answer for me. Lives may depend on it, Mae." Sam looks into her teary eyes, hoping that he can reach her. _Can witches form attachments and loyalties with spells? Mae clearly isn't a witch; she would have gotten out of the rope by now. So it must only be Lilly. Thank God. She doesn't seem the black magic type anyways._

"Oh yeah, because this is exactly my idea of a great night…" Mae says dejectedly, looking up into the sad eyes staring back at her.

Sam gives a small snort of surprise and smiles, "Right." He pulls a knife from his pocket.

Mae lets out a soft whimper of fear, her eyes glued to the knife, even though she can detect no intention to use it on her.

"No, don't-" He sighs. _Why does her fear break my heart?_ "It's fine, we're here to help. Please don't cry ... I mean it; I'm not going to hurt you. But, I think you being honest with me would be easier if, say…" He cuts the rope securing her ankles. "You and I are just having a conversation. I'll untie you completely, and we can have a conversation instead of an interrogation. Can we agree to that?" He looks into her eyes hopeful. _Wow, her eyes are deep, and very green. Like springtime._

Mae looks down at her legs. Slowly she pulls them towards her, intending to wrap her arms around them, but the rope on her wrists and around her thighs prevent her from managing it. "Ok, a conversation then."

Sam gives her a grin as he cuts the rest of her bonds. "Alright, then. My name is Sam. You're right, I'm not FBI. But, I promise, I am just trying to help people. That's what my brother and I do, we help people. You seem like a nice girl. You just got caught up in a bad situation."

"What are you talking about? What bad situation? _This_ bad situation? And, why do you want to know about people we've met? How is that going to save lives?" Mae asks, with confusion and uncertainty quivering in her voice.

"Umm, ok, how about this. I'll answer a question and then you answer a question. Even exchange."

"I'm not promising anything."

"So, me first then. Um, the situation I'm talking about. My brother and I think your friend is a witch." Sam watches her face, intently looking for any sign.

"Right. And I'm the Blue Fairy." _Could I really be reading him wrong? What kind of a game is he playing? Witches… wait! Do they hate Lilly because she's Pagan?_

"I know it's hard to believe, but you really need to trust me here. My brother found proof that she practices dark witchcraft. I know it sounds insane, but it's true."

"Sam, if that _**is**_ your real name. Lilly may have a few problems, but a witch isn't one of them." Mae says pausing for a moment and flinching as she hears the familiar sound of flesh meeting flesh, before saying quietly "Look She's my best friend. She's my family. My sister..." Her sad face suddenly turns angry and she yells "AND. YOU. ARE. LETTING. THAT. GUY. BEAT. HER!"

Sam blinks at her anger not having expected her to yell, but not shocked when she does. After all, this situation was not any of their ideas of a good time. _Damn it, would it kill any of these victims to ever just admit when we are right? Damn it! I really feel awful for this, I don't like shattering people's illusions of their families… Or friends… This job sucks_.

Mae does her best to center herself and is able to calm herself before she continues in a sad and defeated tone "Look, you have no idea what she has been through. You want me to talk to you? Stop your brother from hurting her. Do that, and I'll talk to you." Mae pleads with Sam, hoping that she's reading him right. "Please. I know you're not okay with this. I can feel it, please do the right thing. Please, I can't stand hearing Lilly like this."

Sam bolts from the room, the door slamming into the wall in his wake.

27

Dean's a hair's breadth from actually pulling the trigger when Sam bursts into the room looking relieved, before a look of concern quickly washes over his face.

"Dean! Wait! No don't..." Sam yells as he looks at the situation, and takes it in. "Were you just about to shoot her?" He asks with wide eyes.

"Well, yeah. She's not talking. What's up Sam? Mae start talking?" Dean asks as he slowly lowers the gun away from Lilly, switching the safety back in place, but not taking it off her.

"Ah come on? What type of empty threat is that? I was just starting to take this seriously, too." The girl all but spits out. "Pussy."

"Shouldn't you be a little bit more concerned about your friend?" Dean asks incredulous and frustrated as he punctuates every word with a shotgun poke. "I mean, she did have a matching knot right?" He finishes as he glides the cold muzzle across her temple moving her hair from her eyes, smiling as she let's out a growl of pain as it grazes her gash.

"Still salt free bitch, gotta say barks certainly louder than the bite. How disappointing." Lilly grits out between clenched teeth, as she white knuckled the handles of the chair in frustration and fear for Mae.

Sam looks from Lilly baiting his brother, to Dean. _I can't believe what I'm hearing. Girl has a deathwish. Dean should know better…._

"Look, Mae said she'd talk. But you… You **have** to stop hurting Lilly. No hitting, no slapping, and certainly _no shooting!_ You know what? At this point don't even look at her cross eyed." Sam snaps as he wrenches the gun from his brothers hands with a pointed look.

Lilly looks between the two men, anger builds in her golden eyes as her flippant behavior takes a quick trip to the back seat. "What did you do to Mae you unholy Mammoth? No one hits her you…. You! _Did_ you touch her! You disgusting fucking rapist!" Lilly bristles as she 'catches on'.

Sam and Dean both just go blank. It's silent for several seconds as Lilly's anger returns tenfold.

"Wait, What? No! No, what? Wait!" Sam says large eyes wide with disgust and utter disbelief. _What? Wait? What? Jump to conclusions… Damn, witch… what the fuck just happened?_

"You behemoth cretin! I swear to God, even if this shit-for-brains kills me, you won't get away with this! I have… Well, we have… Wait, no... **Mae** has some terrifying friends! Orphans are actually quite terrifying in groups! Fuck you both with thorn bushes, you fucking monsters!" Lilly bellows as she literally hops in her chair again; concussion be damned.

"So help me Gods, cowboy, you better shoot me cause if I ever get out of this, not even your fucking boy toy here will be even to find your pieces. So, do it now you wanna-be-Billy-Badass! Or, I fucking promise not even your shitty government organization will find you."

Sam and Dean just look at each other speechless. And then… Mae comes running into the room, concern etched into her features.

Sam uses the moment of distraction to toss the gun into the back corner of the kitchen.

Dean, adjunct disbelief etched into every part of his face, catches the running girl by the bicep. Turning with her momentum, he glares at his dim-witted brother.

"What the fuck is this?" He points to gesture at the sans-rope Mae, pulling her closer to him.

Sam just shoots Dean his patented puppy dog look. "Mae, you were supposed to stay in the room." He says palms out as he approaches her, again presenting himself as meaning no harm.

Mae squeaks in surprise and pain and attempts to dislodge the vise grip from her arm. Dean pulls her arm up, forcing her to walk on tiptoe.

"Son of a bitch! What have I been saying? Let her go!" Lilly yells.

"Dean! Let her go!" Sam demands.

"Yeah _Dean_! Let her go!" Lilly agrees vehemently.

"Shut up Lilly!" Dean rages.

"What? I thought you crazies wanted to feel relatable!?" Lilly rages back.

"Mae! Work your magic! Make them calm down! Fix it! Fix it!" Lilly freaks at Mae.

Mae groans. _Phrasing, Lilly. Phrasing_... She shoots her best friend a look.

Dean glares at Lilly, and then turns to Mae. "Yeah, let's see that magic Mae." He tightens his already extremely tight grip. "Did you hear that Sam? _Mae_ can do magic too."

"She just means communicate. She's just- We covered this- in the bakery! She's retarded! She doesn't know what she's talking about!" Mae squeaks out, it felt like he was about to break her arm. Tears begin to run down her face.

"No! I mean the _magic_ you use to calm people down! Use it! Fix it! They have a gun… They had a gun… Where the fuck is the gun?" Lilly says frantically. Her concussion still, shockingly, not helping.

"Dean, stop it. Just talk to her, she's not a witch." Sam pleads.

"Look, I'm going to talk to Mae now, you watch this one. Be careful, she already got out of the chains once. Guess I'll be careful with this rope breaker too." Dean passes Sam, with a meaningful glare. _Thank God. I can't deal with this girl for another minute. I might actually just shoot her, do everyone a favor._

Dean pulls Mae with him roughly as he leaves the kitchen.

Mae struggles to keep up with him, her eyes locking onto Sam's. _Oh God. This guy promised me nothing and Sam never promised to not hurt Lilly._

"Wait, wait! I don't want you anywhere alone with Mae, cowboy! I'm kinda the jealous type. Besides, why ruin such a precious moment? That moment was precious, kinda...Seriously? Where the fuck is the gun? Mae, seriously! MAGIC!" Lilly remarks with a level of desperation in her voice that hadn't been there before, trying that much harder to get out of the blood covered chains. Her tone would be considered pleading if not for the sharp edge to it, even as worry all but seeps from her pores.

"Shut it Lilly." Sam, Mae, and Dean say at the same time.

Lilly glares at the taller psycho, before trying harder to get out of the cuffs again.

"Will you knock it off?" Sam asks in exasperation, as he goes to check on the witch's chains again, which just earns him a raised eyebrow.

"Seriously? You're asking me to not fight back against invaders in our home? Are you fucking daft? And people think I'm stupid? Really?" _Though I would really love to know what is going on. ...There was a gun right? Was there a gun? Did I imagine a gun? Why would I do that? Oh yeah… So much…_

"There...There was a gun right?" Lilly asks as she pauses her actions and stares at the taller one. "Right?"

28

"So, Mae. Time to talk." Dean flings the girl to the bed. He turns, slams the door shut and pulls out his knife.

 _Oh God, he's all over the place._ Mae panics and crawls to the head of the bed, getting as much space between her and the knife wielder.

Dean's green eyes soften slightly, realizing how terrified she must be. _True colors of a witch, Mae. You just got thrown under a bus; a bus that needs an explanation_. "Look, just calm down. I ain't going to hurt you. I just want to know what she was talkin' 'bout."

"Yeah… I believe that. You beat the shit out of my sister. But, _oh no_ , you're not going to hurt me." Mae snaps her mouth shut, surprised at herself.

 _What is with these girls and mouthing off?_ Dean just glares at her.

"Umm… Ok. Just to be clear, Lilly calls my ability to give a fuck about other people 'magic'. She doesn't understand why I can talk to an enraged customer and walk away from it with them still buying from us. I guess it's like taking a gun into a primitive village, they might think that's magic too." Mae pulls her knees up to her chin and wraps her arms around her legs. "Look Lilly, is a lot of things but a witch isn't one. I think I would have noticed. You know with the living with her for the last decade or so. She can't even leave the house without me. She's 'adorable' that way. And has horrible luck, especially with dicks like you and your 'brother'."

He glares at her; he's about to speak, but she holds up her hand to cut him off.

"Sorry, I'm sorry about the attitude. It's been a really long night. What questions did you need to ask? I told Sam I would talk to him, but I'm guessing I have to talk to you." _Huh Sam and Dean… Sam and Dean… Why are those names so familiar? I feel like I just… Fuck I'm tired. And might be in shock. And I know I'm close to another panic attack. And am surprisingly sore, for something that usually only involves Lilly. Poor Lilly. Why do they always insist on separating us?_

Dean looks her over for a moment, contemplating what she said. _Well, that's a first; a girl would rather be in a bedroom with Sam instead of me..._ "Ok. Back to business then… How do you know the men in those photos, and why do you have this guy's phone in your house?" Dean says shoving the picture of John in her face.

"His phone? Oh, that's right. We brought it back to keep it safe. He forgot it last time he came through." Mae replies, shaking with exhaustion. _Names damn it. Do I know these two? No, that doesn't seem right…_

"And you know him…?" Dean begins to ask just as his phone rings. When he pulls it out of his jacket, he lets out a sigh of relief as he flips it open and brings it to his ear.

"Bobby, where the Hell have you been?"


	9. Chapter 9

Mae begins to connect the dots as Dean answered his phone without so much as a 'Hello'. Instead, he demanded to know where 'Bobby' had been, then followed it up with "We show up in your town with a situation and can't-"

 _Oh my God! Bobby!_ In a last ditch, desperate hope Mae begins yelling as if her life depended on it. "Bobby! Bobby Singer! It's Mae! Help!"

Dean looks from the girl to the phone in shock. _Son. Of a. Bitch_ …

"Dean… is that Mae Carlson I'm hearing yelling for help? What the fuck have you done?"

The line goes silent for a moment and as Dean is about to respond, Bobby cuts him as he snapped "Why don't I hear Lilly? EXPLAIN, NOW!"

29

Dean curses under his breath "Oh Hell" as he walks out of the room to get Sam. "Well Bobby…"

"BOBBY?! You son of a bitch! Your ass better hope these fuckers didn't do anything to Mae or so help me Gods, Singer-" Lilly starts to shout furiously, when Dean's slaps his hand over her mouth, throwing the phone to Sam.

"FUCK! Did you just bite me?" Dean yells resisting the urge to hit the girl, shaking it as he pauses to check to see if she broke skin.

"Yes, I did you stup-" Lilly starts loudly as he covers her mouth more carefully this time. _Prick._

"Take that, go back in the room with Mae, and figure this shit out Sammy." _Sonofabitch…I might have contracted witch rabies… Awesome, just awesome_

Sam brings the phone up to his ear, wincing when he heard the man's anger. "HURT THOSE GIRLS! I SWEAR- ONE OF YOU HAD BEST ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW. I'M HEADIN' TA- I'M GUESSING MAE'S HOUSE. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO IDJITS THINKIN'"

"Bobby, it's Sam." Sam leans up against the wall outside the bedroom. "Look, Dad sent us here, and everything leads to these girls somehow being involved. We even thought-How have you missed this Bobby? They have Dad's extra phone, and we can't get a hold of him." Sam explains realizing that telling Bobby that he thought Lilly had done something may not sit well.

Bobby begins another rage filled rant in Sam's ear, but it's the small voice of Mae that commands his entire attention.

"John is your Dad?"

Sam looks at her, sitting there with a tilted head, eyes wide in an almost sad, vulnerable expression. _Huh… that's a new development… I'm thinking maybe we went with wrong tactics…. This isn't good._

As Dean yells in the background "Can someone tell me what the Hell's going on? I think this witch gave me rabies."

"Sam. Whatever _is_ going on, just stop. I'll be up at Mystic in five minutes." Bobby snaps as he hangs up, clearly livid.

"Um, one minute Mae…" Sam says as he rushes back to the kitchen and gestures to Dean who nods.

"Oh no you don't, cowboy! I do **not** have witch rabies! I have all my shots up to date. Thank you." Lilly sniffs indignantly.

Dean turns his head to look at Lilly "So you're admitting you're a witch?"

Lilly nods her head "Yeah, I'm a straight up Hufflepuff. When did I deny being a witch? Is that what this is about? I have like eight wands hidden around the house, and the cauldron I make potions in is under the sink." Lilly spits out sarcastically rolling her eyes. "Speaking of that, just so you know I'm a witch, **not** a Time Lord. And I believe we had a date with the rock salt? So, yeah… Do it you stupid fucking muggle." Lilly quips taunting him cheekily. A feeling of relief fills her along with the sense of accomplishment when Dean turns on his heel to make his way back to her. The now familiar tight jaw and throbbing vein makes a reappearance. _Ah come on and shoot me, Bobby will be so thrilled_.

"Dean! Bobby is on his way here right now. **Don't** let her bait you."

"Cowboy or puppy? Didn't realize you were the tall one's bitch. Didn't picture you as the catcher either… Eh. Shame. But, you know? Whatever floats your boat I s'pose… Figures, the sexy psychos would be gay." Lilly says with a disinterested shrug; she smirks at the ceiling again, enjoying egging him on.

"You are just so disgusting. That's my little brother, bitch." Dean says pausing to shake off the heeby-jeebys that just the thought had given him.

"Great, that's now in my brain. And, gross." Sam shakes his head in disgust.

Lilly looks Sam up and down before turning back to Dean. "Bet there's nothing little about you. So really, just between us girls… You _are_ the bottom, right? I mean, Sam, is it, is clearly the top, and you seem like a bitch." Lilly states with a knowing smirk, happy that she could still manage to dish a little discomfort.

 _Hurry up Bobby, I am so done with this today._ Dean just shakes his head, torn as to whether throwing up, cursing, or hitting would be good enough to wipe those images, and her smugness, away.

Mae runs into the kitchen again. "Lilly, stop it please…"

"Oh fuck no! He said he was going to shoot me. And I know there is a gun! Somewhere. Maybe. Promises were made. And I demand follow through-"

"Lilly, remember how John talked about his boys. His _two_ sons…" Mae quickly interrupts her friend.

"Yes?" Lilly pauses mid rambling.

"I don't suppose you remember their names?" Mae looks her friend over, occasionally glaring at Dean.

"Wait, she knows Dad's real name?" Dean looks over to Sam for an explanation.

"Um… no… I mean wait… let me think… uh…. mmm… Tch… something and something Winchester? One and two? Number Two went to Stanford. One's a great mechanic… Do I win?"

"Really… you remember the school Sam went to? That's what you remember?" Mae asks in exasperation.

Lilly stares at her blankly before turning to the taller of the two and glares at him. "I'm telling your father you're a rapist. Then ya can tell me how it feels to get shot, since cowboys full of empty- Where the fuck is that gun."

"What?" Mae turns on Sam, eyes thin in anger. "What? I thought you were a nice guy? What the Hell did you guys do to her?! How long was I out?!"

Sam and Dean just look at each other blankly and Lilly just tilts her head in confusion.

"Mae, I think Lilly is referring to the time she thought I knocked you out and… Ummmm…" Sam blushes, unable to finish the sentence.

Mae instantly drops her head and stares at the ground.

"WHO THE FUCK LIES ABOUT RAPE! YOU COULD HAVE CORRECTED ME! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THE BOTH OF YOU!" Lilly exclaims when the dots connect. "Why are you two so fucked up? John seems so- What happened to you two?" Lilly flinches… _oh shit that may have been inappropriate… But no, they had me thinking… But obviously she wasn't. Gods, I hate them more. Never thought I could hate a Winchester. How surreal._

Dean and Sam's mouths drop.

"Seriously? And _I'm_ the maladjusted one." Lilly scowls, before dismissing them to look over to Mae, even as she tries to get up and comfort her, forgetting momentarily that she's chained to her chair. "I'm sorry." She mumbles sheepishly.

Mae breaths slowly for a moment more before raising her head again. "OK everyone. Just, stop for a moment. We still don't trust you, you don't trust us, and Bobby is on his way… Get Lilly out of those ropes and handcuffs now, please. And where is the first aid kit?" She asks, looking at the opened cabinet under the sink.

"Not that this isn't kinky and all but can someone uncuff me? Mae asked nicely, and we all want her to be happy, Right? Besides, not really the best light for Bobby to see me. You know cuffed to a chair… beaten, bruised, bleeding, and what not." Lilly questions dryly as she looks to Sam expectantly. "You or your dog; now, please. If you wouldn't mind. This position is surprisingly uncomfortable." Lilly shakes the loose ropes off with Mae's help, pulling at her shackled hands behind her awkwardly and looks to the men expectantly.

Mae looks at Sam "Please."

Sam looks at Dean, who shakes his head. Sam shoots him a look, and then walks over to Lilly, unlocking the shackles, and removing them.

Dean glares at the girl as she rubs at her bloody wrists, frowning at her bare forearms as she subconsciously holds her hands behind her back.

The look of triumph on her face dims slightly when the room tilts and spins once she stands up. _Fuck, fast. Too fast._

To cover the rush of vertigo, Lilly turns and checks Mae for any injury. Using her friend's shoulders to balance herself, she pokes and prods Mae for potential injuries. When Lilly is assured that her friend is going to live, she lets out a breath of relief before slowly walks over to the fridge, swaying slightly and grabs several beers. She notices the broken bottle on the floor with a frown and chugs the first one, toeing it with her boot. She slams the empty bottle on the counter, before opening a second one.

"Anyone else? Beer? Lemonade? Smirnoff? Perhaps some _common fucking sense_?" Lilly offers their house guests a beer, as she turns around fake smile plastered on her face. "Not that ya'll haven't already made yourselves welcome." She says, kicking at the broken glass with a raised eyebrow.

Dean raises his hand even as Sam swats him.

Lilly shrugs and holds a beer out to each of them. "Hey look, it's fine. Awkward. But seriously, just take them. It will help with the … tension." Lilly says as she hands the bottles to Mae and lets her them to the two men.

"Thanks." Dean mumbles as he pops the lid off and takes a deep sip.

"Hey, should she be drinking that?" Sam asks Mae quietly, accepting the beer.

Mae looks at him with a quirked eyebrow. _At least one of them has calmed down._ "You want to take it from her?"

Sam looks to Lilly who is holding her bottle protectively, and shakes his head "Nah. No. Not really."

Lilly's attempts to hide her dizziness doesn't work on Mae. A small frown pulls at her lips as she watches Lilly chug her second beer and open a third.

Mae sizes Lilly up for a moment before gathering ice, bags and dish towels. _Maybe I can't say 'hospital' right now, but she needs something; hurry up and get here Bobby… She's not going to let me do anything with these two watching._

Lilly can't stop herself as her eyes follow Mae moving around the kitchen. "Mae you sure you're okay?"

Mae restrains an eyeroll and settles for a nod as she approaches Lilly with a few ice packs. She points at the ice pack "Put that," she points to the bleeding lump on Lilly's head "on that."

"Now." Mae glares at her friend until Lilly complies.

"Only if you put one here." Lilly says gesturing to the bloody bandage covering the bump on her friend's head.

"After you." Mae chirps with a smile.

Lilly rolls her eyes, harrumphs, and slaps the pack on her injured head way too fast and hard, regretting it instantly as the room wobbles again. Pain shoots from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and her beer tries to violently vacate her stomach. She quickly drops the pack from her head. _That was stupid. Ow, sooo stupid. No beer, you're staying right where you are. "'_ Stop looking at me like that Mae; I'm not dying." She assures her friend dismissing her injuries.

The four of them hear a vehicle screech to a stop outside. Dean looks to the door, absentmindedly shaking out his fist when he sees the hole in the wall next to it. _Son of a… witch._


	10. Chapter 10

30

The sounds of someone running through the garage are cut off by the door slamming open, effectively covering the hole behind it. Before anyone can react, a very pissed off Bobby Singer steps into the disheveled kitchen.

Mae jumps at the sound of the slamming door. "Bobby!" She turns towards the familiar face.

Lilly shrugs, picking the other ice pack up and touches it, gently this time, to her head. A pained growl resonating in her throat as cold seeped into her wound.

The dumbfounded brothers just watch as Bobby embraces Mae in a hug and checks her over. His eyes linger over every scrape, bump, bruise and bandage. Once he seems satisfied that she has no major injuries, his eyes seek out Lilly.

Lilly just gives him a relieved look, before shooting him her patented shit eating grin. His gaze catches her injuries and catalogs them: the bruises littering her face and neck, the ice pack, and especially the blood dripping down her palms and over her beer. Not to mention, the gash on her forehead. _That looks nasty…_

"Mae, are you okay?" Bobby looks incredibly concerned and his second question is directed at both girls. "These idjits didn't do anything too stupid did they?" His eyes land on the boys, both of whom wore identical looks of confusion on their faces.

Lilly just watches the interactions for a moment weighing the options before opening her mouth. These are John's boys and she knows how Bobby feels about them, so she refused to say anything that would hurt the old man.

"Not a damn thing. Just a weird night. Finally got to meet the infamous Dean and Sam. You and John have both mentioned them so often we couldn't help but to invite them over for a beer." Lilly says biting back her sarcastic, bitter replies as she does her best to hide her wrists. _My bracelets...I needed those for so many reasons..._ Lilly laments.

All three men look at her with varying levels of disbelief marring their faces and she receives an amused smile from Mae.

 _Oh Lilly._ Mae sighs with a shake of her head.

"Thought I was a witch though, so, yeah… That was fun for a minute." She adds dryly as she took another sip of beer. _Well, dammit, I tried. I don't have my bracelets; I'm just going to blame that._ "Anyone care to explain that by the way? Because It's certainly a first for me..."

Mae nods at that, also curious why John's sons were so concerned about witches existing.

Bobby takes a deep sigh, runs a hand over his face, and looks from Mae to the fridge. Lilly catches on and tosses Bobby a beer from her stash on the counter. He pops the cap off and tips it towards her in appreciation before practically downing the whole thing.

Lilly tilts hers in a salute and takes another sip; she doesn't really want to get up or move around much now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off.

No one makes a sound.

The tension mounts as the boys wait to see how this strange evening is going to be resolved and the girls wait for an explanation.

Dean and Lilly manage silence for a whole minute before breaking, speaking out at the same time.

"So, what the fuck-?" Lilly begins.

"How the Hell-?" Dean asks roughly.

They both stop as Bobby puts up a hand. They glare at each other from the corners of their eyes, their smiles skewed with not-so-slight sneers. "OK. Boys- what in the Hell made ya think… Bawls! Do you just enjoy pulling people into this shit, or somethin'?"

Bobby looks between the two groups for a moment; Lilly still perched on the corner cabinet, Mae firmly planted between him and Lilly. The boys are standing across from him; both with dumbstruck, slightly apologetic looks, crossed arms and defensive stances.

"What made you attack first and ask questions later?" _It had to be something; these idjits know better than this._

Dean takes a step forward, uncrossing his arms and running a hand over his hair. For a moment, an amused thought brings a twitch of a smile to his lips, before he remembers that he may have hurt an innocent girl. He felt like a reprimanded young school boy explaining to the teacher why he put a frog in her desk, he launches into an explanation.

"Right. So… Bobby, have you ever been in their…" _Pie Heaven?_ The memory makes him hungry all over again, "Umm, bakery? The place is decked out in spells and symbols that actually work together. Not your normal idiot kids romanticizing vampires or pretending to be pagan."

"Pretending?" Lilly scoffs, obviously offended. "Fuckin' bigot."

Bobby interrupts, seething through his teeth, "I gave them quite a bit of that. So did yer daddy, an' a couple other Hunters who have appreciated the shop these girls run."

"Really?!" Both girls ask at the same time.

"Hunters?" Lilly inquires.

"Spells?" Mae asks.

Bobby gets a pained look for a moment. "Girls, can I have a minute with these idjits. I promise I…"

"Oh, Hell no!" Lilly interrupts, "I want to know everything that happened here and what lead to Mae and I getting... I … I mean… I want to know why these boys broke into our home."

Bobby gives her a long look that makes Dean snicker. He knew that look well, nobody and no one stood up to it.

"Yer not gonna budge on this are ya, girl?"

"Nope." Lilly replies easily, popping the 'p' in emphasis, after shooting him a look of her own.

Dean's face falls… _Oh, no way. Bobby ain't no bitch. What the Hell? Ain't no one wins against that stare._

Bobby sighs deeply then leaps into a loose explanation of the supernatural as Mae and Lilly listen attentively keeping quiet and listening keenly. When he finishes with another heavy sigh both girls just stare; first at him, and then at each other blankly while they digest the information.

The three men watch in quiet contemplation.

 _Yeah, way to just jump in there Bobby. As if they didn't think we were crazy before- they are definitely going to think we are all nuts now. I suppose them denying the existence of it might be the best alternative though, I can live with being labeled crazy… it seems like a lot of Hunters have avoided telling these girls for a reason…._ Sam thinks as he wipes his face in a 'What-the-fuck' fashion.

There's a pregnant pause before Lilly breaks it. "So you guys are Hunters?"

All three men nod.

"So you're telling us vampires exist then?"

Again, the three nod.

"Werewolves?"

"Fraid so." Sam replies.

"Ghouls?"

"Those too." Bobby says nodding in agreeance.

"Witches?" Lilly asks ironically… eyebrow quirked and staring down the two brothers.

"Ghosts?" Mae asks, barely whispering.

"Yes! All of it! Well, except Bigfoot… We think…" Dean says rudely, sick of the questioning.

Bobby shoots him a quelling glare, effectively silencing him.

Another awkward silence passes.

"That is so fucking cool!" Lilly says- obviously unaware that such a simple, enthusiastic statement would result instant chaos.

Dean, his anger at the whole situation already near boiling, lets out a roar as he launches himself at Lilly, grabbing her shoulders tightly as he shook her roughly. His nails biting into her arms with the strength of his grip. "Are you fucking kidding me?! This is not cool! Monsters in the world, not cool! We thought you were one, and we kill monsters! You stubborn idiot! You almost got yourself killed! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Dean demands, just a thousand percent done with her flippant attitude. She had been difficult the entire night, and he had almost shot her because of it, and she didn't even seem concerned about it; she even had the audacity to make such casual comment about the cause he sacrificed his life too, like it didn't matter that monsters actually existed; he just wanted to throttle her for her blatant disregard for the seriousness of the situation.

Sam snaps out of his stunned surprise and attempts to pull his brother off, only to be rewarded with a reflexive kick to his ribs from Dean that sends him off balance.

Bobby pushes the screaming Mae behind him roughly, blocking her from the violence as he tries to pull Dean off Lilly; knowing from personal experience how hard it was to resist the urge to throttle her.

Mae watches the scene in shock as Bobby's protective shove sends her stumbling. She slips in a puddle of blood, causing her to trip into Sam who had just been kicked and forcing them to fall to the floor, tangled up in one another. For a moment, Sam and Mae stare into each other's eyes, before scrambling away in embarrassment.

With a movement so unexpected it takes Dean by surprise, Bobby knocks him to the ground where he chooses to restrain the angry Winchester.

Lilly's head is pushed back whacking the back of a cabinet roughly. The abrupt burst of pain feels so much more agonizing than anything that had been dished out at her tonight. _Shouldn't have drunk that last beer…_ Lilly regrets as she feels bile and beer work its way over up her throat hitting the back of her lips with a vengeance.. She holds her hand over her mouth and scrambles to get to the sink, but doesn't make it; she begins vomiting on the floor right next to where a very angry Bobby has Dean pinned down, some splashing into Dean's hair..

All movement in the room halts while Lilly wretches into the sink, her knuckles turning white as she grips the counter's edge for all she's worth.

 _Oh Gods, this fucking sucks. Well, shit. I suppose that I may have deserved that. Something about the man's reaction, I guess. Touchy subject. Everyone has their triggers._ She really couldn't blame him.

The sounds of retching slowly wane; the sound of the faucet turning on and the garbage disposal's roar breaks the spell causing the rest of the occupants to disperse even though her dry heaves can still be heard.

 _Besides, I tend to elicit this type of reaction out of people. Oh… Gods._ Lilly remembers the other people in the room, all of whom happened to be on her floor, where she just vomited. _Please Gods, no. Why? Why? What have I ever done to deserve this?_ As she wretches more violently, the previous scenario goes through her mind's eye. _Fuck me._ She groans as finishes expelling the remaining bile in her stomach.

"Fuck" She exhales softly, as she flips the switch the disposal whirring down.

When the daze from what she had just witnessed wears off with the whirring of the garbage disposal, Mae braces herself to get up right in the middle of a broken beer bottle. She gasps as shards of glass rip into her palm.

The unexpected cry breaks Sam out of his own daze. Mae's hiss of pain also draws the attention of Bobby; Dean uses the distraction to push him away and get free before he bolts from the kitchen.

Sam frowns at Mae as he gently pulls her up, watching his brother rush out of the kitchen.

31

 _She did not just... She did not just…. Awesome. This is so fucking disgusting. Nope. Nope. Nope._ Dean races to the closest restroom where he proceeds to dunk his head under the sink and uses the hand soap to get it out. His loud cursing is easily heard over the sound of running water. _Of course they have organic fucking soap. Mae probably makes it on the weekends! This shit better get the smell out of my hair. God, I better not smell like a dirty hippy; patchouli is disgusting._

32

 _Well this whole day has been thoroughly mortifying._ Lilly cups her hands and rinses out her mouth, and splashes water on her now burning face, knowing that she was going to have hives and a rash for several hours from that wonderful display. She starts washing her hands furiously only pausing to apply more soap. The familiar ritual blocking out the thoughts of what she had just done.

Mae rushes over to her friend, patting her back with her good hand, hiding her glass riddled hand in front of her.

The remaining men just stare at one another unsure of what to do. After several minutes Dean comes back wet from his head to his torso, frowning at the girls hovering over the sink.

 _Well, she's back to looking like a tomato. Alright… So, not a witch? Oh fuck… Not a witch._ He pales as he looks at the kitchen his eyes roaming over all the damage and blood. Fuck.

Lilly goes to bring the soap to her mouth, a compulsion to wash that as well as Mae restrains her hand. "Mouthwash, Lilly." Mae whispers with a look of concern.

"Soap is stronger Mae." Lilly whines quietly tugging on her hand.

"But it's gross Lilly." Mae responds just as quietly as she wrestles the soap out of her friend's hand.

"Not as gross as what I just did Mae…" She whispers back harshly, but lets Mae reach under the sink and grab the emergency dental hygiene kit.

"Here. Use this, you weirdo." Mae says as she watches her friend brush her teeth with fervor and all but swallow the mouthwash. Both of them content to just ignore the male presence in the room.

"Well that was fucking classy." Lilly jokes weakly as she finally loosens her death grip on the toothbrush. Her skin all but glows in mortification. Everyone just shakes their heads. She pushes off the sink to go sit on the counter; regret consuming her as the fatigue, stress, and blush cause her legs to buckle. The room spins as she stumbles into Mae, bringing them both down in an awkward heap. For the second time in twenty minutes the men act instantly, except this time to aid the fallen girls, even Dean.


	11. Chapter 11

33

Mae exhales deeply when the glass shards rip further through her skin while she shakes her best friend, checking for consciousness.

Lilly looks at her friend, quietly muttering "Please, just kill me." causing Mae to frown.

"Will you please stop trying so hard to act tough? I'm really too exhausted for this. Bobby's here now." Mae reprimands her friend as she waits for Lilly to move off her torso. She softens her tone, knowing how sick and dizzy Lilly must be and not wanting to rush her.

When the boys and Bobby surround them everyone is shocked when Dean picks Lilly up gently.

Mae goes to snap at him but stops when she sees how guilty he feels. Sam and Bobby just look at her in confusion. She waves it off and again tries to get off the floor only to slip in… fluids.

Sighing deeply in defeat she just leans her head back onto the cabinet. "Hey can someone grab the first aid kit?" Mae asks sweetly as Sam offers his hand, which Mae accepts gratefully.

Bobby grunts as he goes for the kit underneath the sink, then pauses when he sees it's not in its place. Both Sam and Dean raise an eyebrow at Bobby having known their house so well, mentally filling in more blanks.

"Um, it's in the large room with the couch…" Sam mumbles and points.

The brothers each escort a girl to sit on a chair at the kitchen table. Dean stays close to Lilly, worried the girl might collapse again.

Her sneer and silence speak volumes to the other occupants in the room as he watches her carefully. Her pale skin is dotted in red hives, the last bits of blush her body can project with the blood loss.

The four occupants stare at each other in silence, each watching the other, before Lilly realizes how close she is to the brothers.

"Can I sit on the counter?" Lilly asks, immediately standing from the chair; she wasn't particularly looking forward to sitting in them again anytime soon. They had been familiar and comfortable before the night's events played out, but now they just made everything thrum with pain. Though, whether it was physical or psychological, she had no idea.

"No." All three people at the table respond in tandem.

"Lilly, that doesn't seem like a good idea…" Sam responds; he's looking at the nasty gash in the girl's forehead and remembering quite clearly the vomiting incident that will certainly be burned in his brain for the rest of eternity. _Serves Dean right._ He covers his smile with his palm.

"Can I sit on the table?"

"I'm not sure that seems like a good idea either…" Mae chimes in with her opinion as she looks from the floor to the table top. _That height and her balance aren't a good mix..._

"The floor?"

"No." The entire table responds again, leading Lilly to sigh.

"Kay. I'll just stand." Lilly says clasping her hands behind her back and waiting for Bobby to return. Rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, making all the of the table's occupants uncomfortable.

"Oh, Jesus Christ." Dean mutters as he gets up and leaves the room, causing the three remaining members to look after him in confusion.

"Your brother is a wonderful conversationalist." Lilly says sarcastically. "I'm going to go help Bobby with that first aid kit." She says, turning away and immediately ends up on the floor muttering an "oomph." _Great. That wasn't adding to my humiliation or anything..._

Mae immediately jumps from her seat, only to have Sam firmly pull her back into it. Mae opens her mouth to protest, but Sam silences her "You're not much better off."

"I meant to do that. It's cool. The floor is cool and feels nice anyways." Lilly yawns, exhaustion currently outweighing how disgusting her current predicament is. _Gods, I could literally sleep here. So Comfy._

"No Sleeping!" Mae pleads and Sam barks.

"What the Hell!" Dean complains loudly setting up the chair he had just found.

"Lilly! Damn it, ya gidjit." Bobby hollers, rolling his eyes as he walks in behind Dean.

Lilly hears four voices snap at her as she scrambles to her knees. "I wasn't; I'm OK." She hears a familiar sigh of frustration behind her and can't help but to wince.

"I was gone for less than a minute. Are you always this obnoxiously stubborn?" Dean asks.

Lilly shakes her head.

It holds no merit as Bobby and Mae respond with a strong "Yes."

Bobby shakes his head in disapproval as he places two first aid kits on the table and looks around at the 'kids'.

"Do I even want to know?" He asks as he gestures to the large 'moon chair thing' that Dean had just retrieved from the rooms near the bedroom Mae had been in..

"No." Is the general response as Dean walks over and picks Lilly up, again, placing her in the center of the cushion, before she can even utter a protest.

It takes a few moments as everyone settles in around the table. Then it takes several more beats as everyone looks around, wondering where to start again.

"You are such a klutz." Lilly says as she looks at the shards sticking out her friend's palm, effectively breaking the ice.

Mae looks indignantly at Lilly. "Like you have any room to talk?"

"Plenty." Lilly replies shortly as she tries to scoot her chair closer to Mae and away from Dean only to have him stop her.

"Don't think so." Dean says shortly glaring at the girl who huffs in exasperation. _She's going to end up falling again, if she keeps trying to move-Maybe I shoulda picked out a better chair._

Choosing to ignore him for a moment, she says "Look, it's not my usual style, but this isn't quite the usual situation either. So… We going to sit and talk about shit, like normal human adults?" Lilly calmly levels a stare at all three men. Bobby and Sam comply easily but Dean only raises a brow.

 _Of course she wants to be civil now. When the bitch has a concussion and is one pint shy of passing out… Is that what it takes?_ Dean snorts, with a shake of his head.

With a sigh Bobby pushes one of the first aid kits to Sam and gestures at Mae with a nod of his head. "It's unconventional, but it works, just ask them if you have questions. And re-wrap the one on her head." Bobby says.

Lilly, stubbornly, goes to take the kit from Sam to work on Mae.

"Don't worry Lilly. I can take care of a few shards of glass. We should probably also get to work on a few problems you're dealing with." Sam says, fishing the tweezers out of the pack. "Yellow, blue, then green, right?" He adds with a slight smile.

 _I. Hate. Winchesters._ Lilly glares at him. "If you had been listening to me, you would know that you don't need the green one this time. I told you they were color coded... And if you had just used my ointments and creams to begin with, her head probably wouldn't have ended up bruising."

Sam looks through the kit thoughtfully, before looking at Mae.

She smiles, "I'll let you know what you need." She pulls a few bottles and tins out of the kit with her good hand while Sam washes down the tweezers with rubbing alcohol.

"Seriously though, if you don't want to go to the E.R., you should let someone help you. I'm sure you have a concussion." Sam reiterates.

Lilly huffs, "I can take care of myself, I don't need a nanny helping me with my boo-boos. No offence, Mae. I mean, if you weren't so tired and in shock and all that, you might be able to take care of yourself. But me" She nestles further into her chair, "I can always take care of me." She finishes with a yawn.

Mae sighs "Lilly just do what the man asks." she says in a stern tone.

"Fineokwhatever…" Lilly grumbles out, " but I want one of my, emphasis on my, beers..."

Bobby leans back in his seat watching the interactions between the brothers and the nearly sisters in grim amusement. It was obvious something went down here and in watching the aftermath he was easily beginning to connect dots. He needed another beer, and he wanted a good explanation. _Damn Winchesters._

"Cowboy, I've let you get away with a lot today. Now there's more beer in the fridge, might as well grab it while you're up." She says, looking directly at Dean as he sits next to her. "The vodka too, if you don't mind. You've made yourself at home here, might as well housewife it to the full extent." Lilly says mumbling the last part to herself as Mae swats her gently.

 _Lilly what is wrong with you today? Well, I mean, besides the obvious…_ "Stop baiting him, at least." She whispers.

Sam snorts, earning a withering glare from Dean. Ignoring his older brother, he inspects the shards of glass embedded in Mae's hand, occasionally pouring a bit more alcohol to clear the bleeding. _Get over your bitchy mood and let's move on. God, Dean._

Mae winces silently while Sam cleans her palm.

Sam notices her scrunched face. "Sorry." He whispers, wishing that he didn't have to hurt her. At the same time he notices the difference between helping her and helping his brother. One was a lot more violent than the other.

"No, no, you don't have to apologize. It just stung a little, no big deal." Mae gushes. She's still confused by the whole situation, but trying to take it all in stride. "Lilly's way worse off than a few little scrapes; she's the one we should be concerned over. Not that I'm blaming anyone, or, um, that's, uh…" She looks to Lilly for help.

Sam smiles as he watches Mae blush.

Lilly just watches her friend struggle, mirth swimming in her eyes. _How's it feel to be the awkward one now? Ask if they're gay, now. Please, please, pleeease… That would just be… Oh, I'll just go for it..._

"So are you two really brothers? Cause me and Mae kinda had a bet going…" _...Oh, so funny_

"Just get the beer Dean." Bobby snaps at Dean keeping the damn boy from taking the bait.

 _I guess all Winchesters are equally fun to piss off..._ Lilly sighs before an amused glint shimmers in her eyes. "Oh, and Cowboy, don't forget the Vodka."

"Lilly. Stop it. Now." Bobby turns the glare on her.

Lilly immediately looks down, only mildly repentant and whines "He started it." This earns her another swat from Mae, which makes her bite her lip in pain. _Gods I feel like I got hit by a truck._

"Mae, stop moving. I've got to get the glass out." Sam says, holding her injured hand a little tighter so he wouldn't lose it. Mae lowers her head so she can't see Sam extracting glass from her palm.

"And I'm freakin' ending it. You two are something else." Bobby says, softening his harsh words with a small grin.

Dean, heaving a deep sigh, stands up to walk over to the fridge. He rummages around, grabbing an armful of beers, the vodka, and a bottle of water.

Lilly opens her mouth to say something else, but to Mae's and her surprise, it's Sam who kicks her chair in warning. Lilly just rolls her eyes. Vertigo washes over her again, and it takes several seconds for the room to stop spinning. _Seriously! He started it. Everyone wants me dead today… So not fair._ "Hrmphy… ugh, I mean, can you please grab Mae a bottle of bitch beer." Lilly rephrases, covering her snarky remark that was on the tip of her tongue.

"Do I look like a waiter to you?" Dean asks indignantly. Glaring over the piles of glass bottles in his arms.

Without missing a beat Lilly quickly replies "Yes, though apparently not a good one; must be D night at Chip and Dale's."

"Lilly!" Mae, Bobby, and Sam snap at the girl making her flinch and look down.

"What? He asked…." Lily says with a shrug and an innocent smile.

Dean glares at the girl before plopping down with the bottles, having included a few girly drinks for the less obnoxious one.

An awkward and tense silence falls over the table again, before Lilly abruptly breaks it by twisting the first aid kit towards her, and pulling out several shot-esque looking glasses. Frowning at the already opened vodka bottle she sighs as she pours out three shots before pulling a swig for herself.

Dean's not sure whether to be impressed or concerned at her ballsy behavior, so he keeps a blank face; the other three however cannot stop from rolling their eyes. After the liquor hits her throat Lilly pushes the three shots to the men. On closer inspection, they notice that the glasses are oversized measuring cups, the kind that comes with liquid medicine.

Mae just sighs "You really shouldn't be drinking Lilly..." Very concerned about her friend's head injury mixing with liquor and begins listing the horrible side effects of such stupidity very quietly to herself.

"Oh, come off it Mother Mae… I just survived the most miscommunicated hostage situation ever. I'm totally entitled to a drink… or five." She shrugs defiantly.

Sam puts the bloody tweezers down on the plate holding shards of glass, sighing. "Mae, your hand needs stitches. Do you have anything we can use, or would you rather go to the hospital?"

Mae tries to pull her hand back. "Uh, I'm sure it's fine…"

"There's stuff in the kit Sam. She won't go to the hospital." Bobby says, giving Mae a stern look.

Sam nods and searches the kit for a needle and some thread and begins prepping it for Mae's stitches. _Today really sucks._

"Don't be a baby Mae. It's just stitches." Lilly teases her friend gently.

Sam sighs as he sets the first stitch, doing his best to ignore Mae's sudden intake of breath and his own slight wince.

"So, about that show and tell bit?" Bobby says expectantly, downing his shot.

Dean sighs deeply contemplating several things for a moment before he begins. "Uh, yeah. Right, where was I? Yeah, so we were at the bakery, or cafe or whatever. Then they were acting weird, this one yammering on and not getting me my pie." Dean stabs an accusatory finger in Lilly's direction.

"And then that one," He points to Mae, "Made Sam all suspicious because she offered a free meal and pie to us… mmmm, so much pie…" Dean coughs. "But yeah, free stuff never sends good vibes to Sammy. So they both continue to act weird…" He says. His mind's made up on at least one of his thoughts, as Mae and Bobby watch Lilly's next swig with concern in their eyes, Dean snakes the bottle from the girl when she places it on the table, the familiar rash crawling further up her neck.

Lilly just blushes and sniffs indignantly "Hey. I was not acting weird, you asshole. I was just um… Shocked that uh… We were getting um… Well it doesn't matter. I wasn't acting weird."

 _Oh for Ra's sake, no please no. Different subject, this is so fucking awkward…_ Every man at the table just looks at her with raised eyebrows. Mae just looks amused. "Also... Give me back my Vodka, and go get your own." She snaps trying to change the subject from her overly awkward and embarrassing behavior yesterday.

 _Yeah, sure thing, Hufflepuff._ Dean sarcastically thinks as he maintains eye contact with the irate girl and downs the last dregs of her bottle.

Lilly glares daggers at him, huffing at him in defeat and crossing her arms. She can't help but send a pout Mae's way, hoping she might also interrupt the asshole.

Sam finishes up the stitches on Mae's hand as he smiles at her. He takes her other hand, checking it for injury with a small, sympathetic smile. _At least she's taking this better than Dean; he's such a baby sometimes._

"I was… I thought they were health inspectors or food critics, and you were alluding to so much that you could do with our products…" Mae blushes, easily ignoring her friend's tantrum and Dean's antics, only to stop talking when she notices the whole table was staring at her.

"Yeah that's it…" Lilly says. Her demeanor does a complete one-eighty to jump at the excuse for her earlier behavior. "We totally thought you guys were like the food five-O… and Mae's never failed anything in her life so she flipped her shit." _I'm going to ignore that last part, you harpy._

Sam and Mae both give Lilly a similar disbelieving look as Dean looks at her incredulously. Bobby just shakes his head at Lilly's transparency. ' _Bullshit_!' was clearly stamped on each of their faces.

"Anyway…" Dean begins again with a perfect mixture of annoyance and amusement clear in his tone "We left and did some research and find a whole bunch of super shady shit on both Mae and Lilly. So, of course we…"

"Excuse me you did what?" Lilly asks horrified.

Mae looks at the men sitting around the table nervously, the raw emotions momentarily stunning her.

The brothers take a moment to look repentant before Dean continues, "Well, I mean, we dug into your histories and we found a lot of strange-"

"I fucking knew it!" Lilly interrupts, rage causing her voice to rise. "You Gods damn assholes! You had no right invading our privacy like that! Isis, what the fuck is wrong with the both of you? And they say I need help?! Fuckin' stalkers!"

"Lilly, it's what Hunters have to do. Cut it out." Bobby says, obviously just wanting to get to the bottom of the situation. Knowing the boys weren't completely reckless, something really had to have put them on edge. _Winchesters...Why didn't you idjits just wait?_

"Well, why didn't they call you? I watch a lot of crime shows you know? And I know it's common practice for out of town investigators to talk to local law enforcement; that means you doesn't it Bobby? So why didn't they ask you? Or fucking John for that matter? I mean, you and John are the better Hunters, right?" Lilly grounds out bitterly, voice dripping with pain and exhaustion. She goes to grab a beer, only to have a bottle of water handed to her. A look of anger and rebellion flashes across her face as she opens her mouth only to close it without uttering a word. She grasps the bottle resentfully, ignoring the smug smile on Dean's face.

 _That's what I thought, Hufflepuff._

 _Lilly must be wiped if that was that easy, I'm not even sure how she does it._ Mae thinks, concerned as her eyes take in her friend's disheveled and ragged appearance, noting the only bit of color on her friend is her seemingly ever-present rash.

"We didn't call Bobby, who is also a Hunter. Why? Because we wanted to be sure we were correct before calling him. Good God, a guy can't finish a story around here. Shut your cake hole, and I think at least Bobby will understand what happened. And that's all I care about." Dean says, starting out in a normal voice and slowing getting louder. _Iron gags. I'm going to invest in gags. Our lives would be so much easier with gags. Damn!_

Lilly just glares at him and takes a gulp from the water bottle, almost defiantly.

"So, Sammy checked and found out that they do charity and stuff, so we wanted to check out their house before they got back. We got here, and saw the pictures of you and Dad. Bobby, we called. We called both you and Dad. And that's when we heard the phone ringing. They have Dad's phone. The whole thing stank, so when they ended up here earlier than we thought, we decided that we were going to talk to them. That one started fighting me, Mae ran, Sammy chased. Got that one in iron, Mae was easier to manage-"

At this comment Sam snorts and Mae grumbles "easier to manage…." bitterly.

Lilly smirks at Dean waiting expectantly to hear the rest, from his point of view.

"Pie holes- shut em. So, Lilly admitted to being a witch, Sam took Mae into another room, Lilly got out of hand again… I uh, may have… uh…"

"Treated her like a witch?" Sam supplies.

"Yeah… There may have been some rough interrogation…"

"Oh really? Here I thought they had just gotten into a cat fight." Bobby's biting sarcasm causes all of them to jump.

"Bobby." Lilly sighs as she takes another begrudging sip of water . "It's fine. I did a majority to myself. When I was fighting with him I ended up falling into the counter and slamming my face into the table… more embarrassing than anything else really…"

Dean just looks at Lilly and his jaw tensed with a thoughtful expression on his face. _She lied about it? That's a new development. Weird. This girl is such a freak._

Bobby still looks unconvinced; he grunts and settles back into his seat. He pulls a long swig on his beer. _These idjits are going to be the death of me, so are these gidjits for that matter… Damn kids._

"Uh, yeah, and then you called, and here we are." Dean ends lamely.

"So, I think we may have jumped the gun here Bobby."

"You think?" Bobby says acerbically.

"But we didn't mean for it to come to this. Honestly, we just wanted to know how they knew you, and why they had Dad's phone. Dad never mentions making friends." Sam says looking to Bobby apologetically.

Bobby pauses a moment digesting Sam's words, before looking to the girls. "You two are idjits. I can't believe you didn't just answer their questions. They could obviously over power you both! What the Hell were you thinking?" He demands, glaring at them in irritation and disbelief.

Lilly just stares at Bobby indifferently and shrugs. _Seriously? You're Welcome._

"Why is that so surprising to you?" To everyone's surprise, it's Mae talking. "Do we seem like the kind of people who would just spout out information about our friends to save our lives?" Everyone can hear the hurt and anger in her voice. "We're not stupid- ouch."

Sam grimaces, loosening the bandage he was wrapping around her hand, mumbling "Sorry."

Mae just gives him a half smile, handing him the next tin so he can tend to her head wound.

At this point Lilly looks at Mae and softly says "Dude. It's cool. You did the right thing. We did the right thing." _Fuck men._

"Y'all're gonna be the death of me." Bobby shakes his head, looking around the table at the four of them. "Lilly, Mae: Stop trying to be damn heroes. Dean, Sam: you can't let emotions cloud your judgement on a hunt. Yer worried about John, I get it. But you can't lose focus. You nearly made a huge mistake. If I hadn't a'called, how far would you have gone? No, don't answer that, I don't wanna know, I just want you ta'know." Bobby lets out a sigh, and takes another beer, popping the lid off angrily.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure alcohol is going to be the end of you ol' man." Lilly snarks back, looking for all the world unconcerned at Bobby's lecture. "I for one was actually curious as to where it was going to go." Lilly finishes drolly and takes another drink of water. _Would he really have shot me? I think there was a gun… No, I know; definitely a gun. I think he would have… But I'm kinda sad he didn't… Oh I need to talk to my therapist about this. I have so many problems. This is an awful development._

All the men just stare at her again.

Mae looks at Dean, finally understanding his anger, confusion and fear. "Your dad was in town for a few days, he left his phone on the counter after paying his bill the last time he visited us at the shop. He saw Ethan walk out in front of that truck." Mae looks down at the table, tracing designs with her fingertips. "He left the day after the accident. He mentioned that he had been too late, but didn't go into more detail about it. Now, his reasons are obvious. John's always been secretive. I guess we know why that is now."

The two brothers stare at each other from over the table and frown. _Mae seems pretty familiar with Dad, wonder how well they actually know each other. I really just don't understand how these two can work and live together. I just can't get over the stark differences. Mae's so sweet and kind; Lilly's… Well, so… Lilly. Awkward? Blunt?_ Sam muses to himself.

Dean frowns. _These chicks know a lot about Dad. Why didn't he ever mention them to me? What's with all the secrets, Dad? It's getting old._

"Great, are we done with this now? Or are you guys going to kill each other when I leave? 'Cause I'm jet lagged as a sonovabitch and really would like to go home knowing you idjits aren't killing one another…" Bobby says leaning back in his chair looking at the four around him with a raised eyebrow, and locking eye contact with each of them individually till he was certain he had confirmation. Satisfied, he stood up. "Well, alright then. Dean. Sam. Clean up your mess here, and get back on your case."

Dean lets out a groan "Can't we just bring her to the hospital?" Causing Lilly to look down, and Mae to shoot her a concerned look about to say something but keeps it in as someone else begins talking.

Bobby shoots him a glare, "No, this time, clean up your mess means, literally, clean up your mess. These girls don't do hospitals. You hear me. Fix this yourself, and get back out there to work on the case. Come by tomorrow morning and I can tell you what I've got on it. As for you two-" He glares at Mae and Lilly. "Take the next few days off. I'll go put up some signs or something at the bakery to let people know." He looks the four of them in the eyes a final time before turning and leaving.


	12. Chapter 12

34

Lilly waits for the roar of Bobby's truck before shooting a look to Mae then the guys. "Hey, you guys can get out of here. Mae and I got this. The ol' man must be losing it if he thinks we want you in our house…"

"Lilly, be nice." Mae interrupts, shooting a stern look at Lilly.

Dean and Sam exchange a look and a nod.

"Well, now we can patch you up the easy way… Or… Look, just go for the easier way." Dean says exasperated.

Lilly takes a deep resigned breath realizing she just didn't have the energy to fight."Just promise me it'll get you out of our house faster." She mumbles under her breath. Just tired of the whole damn night.

"Faster than baking a pie." Dean answers smugly.

"If you're baking it properly, it's not actually that quick. I know, why don't you two just patch up the hole in our wall and we'll call it even?" _Just leave me the fuck alone._

"We'll clean up." Sam adds, "But Mae has to patch you up while we work."

Dean just shakes his head "But why?"

Mae looks thoughtful for a moment, "I'll take that deal."

Lilly scowls at her. _You would… traitor._ "Actually I'm great. Just hurry up so we can sleep. We have to open the store in like…" She looks over to the oven reading the time "Three hours. Fucking fantastic."

The brothers look at each other, brows quirked "You guys are working today?"

Lilly shoots them a blank look as Mae responds. "The shop is open every day but Thursday, actually. Even holidays since, but yeah, we've just never closed it like this before. We love our jobs." _Well that could have gotten awkward. No one needs a sob story. Oh crumbs, I'm starting to sound like Lilly… I must be tired._

The boys just stare at them for a moment before Sam tries a different tactic. "Lilly, you really shouldn't sleep; you have a concussion."

 _Oh bite me. Now they care? Not when I'm passed out and tied up to a chair. Fuckers. Gods I hate people._ "Hey, no. No. No. I'm fine."

Sam's brows scrunch as Dean just sighs. "You do not take very good care of yourselves, do you?"

"Well obviously, I mean we've yet to call the cops on people who broke into our home and invaded every inch of our privacy. So, I mean, there's that. If you want to start being judge-y, we can start there. So sure, yeah we can start there." Lilly responds defensively as she crosses her arms, before remembering their lack of coverings. She immediately shifts so she is sitting on them, holding back a whimper of pain from the position, and soreness of her wrists.

Dean immediately shuts his mouth.

"Not what he meant; he just meant you guys are taking this incredibly well." Sam says assuming his familiar position of palms out as he shoots Dean a glare.

"She didn't mean we would." Mae says. "No one is calling the cops, besides this isn't the first time something like this has happened…." She pauses, a small smile sent her friend's direction "And probably won't be the last, right Lilly? We just have really odd luck."

"Yep." Lilly agrees as she shifts again trying to get more comfortable. "So, um… Off topic question: where are my bracelets? Why are they off?"

Sam and Dean both stare at the girls suspiciously.

 _What do they mean by that?_ Dean thinks angrily, as Sam sighs "What do you mean by odd luck?"

"Oh people just hate me. It happens." Lilly says with a shrug "So, bracelets?"

Sam looks to Dean as he shifts uncomfortably. "Um, they kind of got ruined with the cuffs." He responds sheepishly.

Dean jumps in "Wait, what? People just hate you? Sure you're not just projecting there, Hufflepuff?"

Lilly's face drops almost as if someone had just killed her puppy. "Ruined?" She whines out. _Damn it, but those were some of my favorites… Damn, looks like I'll be borrowing some of Mae's shirts for a bit. Great. Just wonderful._

Mae shoots Lilly a sympathetic glance "I'm not sure she is actually. So what exactly happened to her bracelets?" She asks as she starts to sort through the first aid kits on the table, selecting items for Lilly's injuries.

"Well um, her wrists were bleeding pretty badly, so I uh… cut some off, and ripped off the rest. To clean them." Sam mumbled. He contemplated if now was an appropriate time to ask about her scars he had been sure were self-inflicted. However, now as he was thinking about it, he wasn't sure why he'd even assume that. Nor was he sure why he ever thought Lilly was evil. _Awkward? Sure. Awkward as Hell actually. But evil? Not so much._ Guilt flooded him.

Dean is silent as he finishes his beer and watches the other three occupants around the table. "They're just bracelets. Why are they so important, you don't seem the girly type Hufflepuff."

 _Why is Dean calling Lilly Hufflepuff? And she's not pissed about over it? No, wait. I must be tired because the real question is 'How the Hell does Dean know about Harry Potter?'_ Sam wonders as he just waits silently for the girl's response.

Mae looks at her friend as she picks up a cotton ball, dousing it with a purple liquid. She starts cleaning her friend's head gash carefully, concern etched into her features as she waits quietly for Lilly to respond.

Lilly is silent for a moment contemplating an answer and just ends up awkwardly saying "Reasons?"

"Well actually I noticed a lot of scars." Sam blurts out, curiosity and anticipation of a better response getting the best of him. _Damn, meant to say that more tactfully._

"Scars?" Dean and Lilly ask at the same time, in completely different tones.

Mae can't help dabbing a bit harder at the wound as she tries to contain the snort at Lilly's clueless tone. _How awkward for her. Perhaps I should step in? On the other hand I kinda want to see where this goes. But on the other, other hand Lilly has only so much patience for strangers. Oh crumbs._

"Mae! How's it going ? Do I need stitches or what?" Lilly asks, clearly changing the subject as she winces slightly at her friend's ministrations.

 _Oh good job Lilly! You changed the subject instead of getting mad. So many cookies for Lilly._ Mae pats her friend's thigh gently. "Looks like three should do it. Not too awful this time actually. I'd be shocked, but it's you, so I'm not."

"Cool, cool. Just great. Haven't had stitches to the face for a minute… Your hand going to be steady?" Lilly blows a strand of hair out of her face, as she looks to her friend's bandaged hand in mild concern.

"Uh, hmm… Good question… Maybe." Mae says looking from the needle to her friend's head to her hands. "I am shaky." She observes.

"Good enough for me." Lilly shrugs. "Need me to thread it?" She offers holding out her hand for the supplies.

"Wait no, back to scars. What scars?" Dean asks as he too begins feeling guilty, not quite remembering what has made him so angry earlier. _Dad, why can't you just leave us more information, like ever?_

Lilly looks up to him and is about to say something when Sam jumps in. "Hey Mae, if you want I can stitch her for you? Might do more damage than good with your hand the way it is…" He asks her as Mae looks at Lilly for permission.

"Fuck. No. Please- neither one of you come near my face with sharp and pointies. Please." Lilly says as she attempts to move further away from the boys at their table.

Dean sees what's about to happen so moves quickly to stabilize the chair before she flips it.

A wave of fear and nausea washes over Lilly as she shrinks back from Dean's sudden movement. "Why don't you two just go start fixing stuff and things? And leave me alone? Please and thank you. I feel like we're good. And… Stuff. So, please just get it done and go away." Lilly says as she clenches her teeth, trying to calm down. _Its fine, Mae's here. It's fine._

"Would you excuse us please, for just a moment?" Sam asks as he pulls Dean away from the table.

"Bye!" Lilly says happily as she leans forward and pulls several ointments and bandages to her lap, deftly cleaning them and wrapping them with acute precision. Oddly precise. Especially for someone with a concussion.

"Sure. Are you two alright?" Mae asks, head tilted and mildly concerned for the brothers, as she starts threading the needle for stitches.

"Nah, we're fine just need to talk really quick." Sam says, shooting Mae his signature smile.

Dean looks at all three of them with mild frustration. _One of us should really be doing that._ As both brothers exit the room.

35

"I'd say that was rude, but eh? Think we are kinda passed that point." Lilly tells Mae after the guys walk into the other room. "Not that, you know, it's normal to have your intruders roaming Gods knows where in your house… Hey, when they said 'alter' do you think they went through my room? Cause, like, seriously if they did I will go all types of 'cunt' all over them. My room is kept the way it is for reasons. I spend a lot of my free time keeping it perfect. I'm so- ugh. Damn it. Mae, are you sure you can do this?" Lilly asks as she flinches away from her best friend, who's needlework was sure to be a bit sub-par due to her own wounds. "I really don't need eye problems too."

Mae sighs "Okay then, you choose. One of them, the hospital or me? I'm tired and cranky, and I'm sorry, but you only have the 'me' option for about the next five minutes. Go on then. Make a choice." _I'm sorry, this is just too much. John's kids turning up. What a way to meet them. What a painful way..._

"Eye sight? I choose eyesight." Lilly responds with a look of exasperation. "Duh."

"Four minutes and 45 seconds." Mae nearly growls in frustration.

"That was my answer! I want to be able to see when it's done." She flinches as the she see's the way Mae's hand shakes as she brings it to eye level. "The gash is nowhere near my eyes, and I'm concerned about your ability to focus right now." Lilly half placates, worried for her eyesight and her friend.

"Oh, is that all? If you don't trust me, I can go get Sam or Dean. I'm sure they won't poke your eye out." _Someone has to do it Lilly, I'm sorry._

"It's not trust. Well, I trust that you are also suffering the after effects of a concussion and wounds of your own, which, my fault. So, sorry about that. This is probably the worst thing I've dragged you into, So-" She stops Mae from interrupting her, as she held up her hand. "No, just don't. I really feel terrible- But, I mean, just, you know… Needle. Hand coordination, and not to say I'm not fucked up, but kinda fucked up here, at least a little bit you know, and I kinda need my eyesight for, you know, times like today." Lilly bites on her lip, scared of asking for Mae to finish, and scared of telling her not to, weighing her options before she's able to continue. "Please don't let them near me…for reals, like I'll get over it. Obviously, 'cause like… I get this is my fault and stuff, I just need like a day or so. I'm not used to people really sticking around after."

Mae sighs deeply. _It really isn't good to just stick a band-aid on this problem, but seriously, I can't just ignore that._ "It's not your fault." She mumbles before she sighs, "Butterfly stitches? I really think you need real ones, but for once I don't think you're wrong… I'll put real ones in tomorrow...today. Crumbs. The shop." Mae responds as she attaches the first butterfly tab along her friend's gash.

"Super. Crap-tastic. Fuck." Lilly curses, teasingly, Mae long since applied topical anesthesia to her wounds, they didn't hurt but she was hoping to cheer up Mae.

"Lilly knock it off." Mae says chuckling at her friend's antics.

"I would be more creative, but I'm not." Lilly responds blandly as she yawns behind her hand. "I don't think our shop is opening; this is the longest of these incidents yet… I think. Maybe? Not actually sure… We should start timing them."

Mae rolls her eyes. "We are not timing them; that's weirder than keeping track of them… So, no. Also, this really isn't your fault. We've talked about this before. Things just happen."

Lilly's face is priceless as she goes to respond, but is cut off as the boys walk back into the room.

"So uh, Dean and I discussed it, if it's alright with you ladies we- Did you just put butterfly bandages on her gash?" Sam asks; his head tilts as he takes in the image of the two girls.

"I thought you said she could give you stitches?" Dean demands with a brow raised as he looks down at Lilly.

"Are you nuts?! I'm not letting someone with a concussion and messed up fingers and hand near my face, with a needle! She almost stabbed me in the eye!" Lilly freaks. "Eyes are important."

Mae rolls her eyes and drops what she is doing "I did not almost stab you in the eye, you brat, but fine then. We both knew you needed something better and I can't do it."

Lilly whines, "But the butterfly stitches…"

"Are not good enough. For fuck's sake, Lilly! I thought you said this happened often? Those aren't going to do shit for that gash." Dean says, exasperated.

"I'm sure they are fine, it works. Mae, it works right? See? It works." Lilly's tirade continues without even waiting for Mae's affirmation. "You guys fixing or leaving our house yet?"

Sam and Mae roll their eyes.

"No, Lilly. We're not, we said we would make sure you two were fixed up before we left, and I don't think butterfly bandages constitute that. Don't you agree Sam? Good. Great. So, if you don't want stitches from her, then it's us or the hospital. 'Cause I'm actually agreeing with you here Lilly. Mae shouldn't be near anyone's face with a needle, when she has a concussion." Dean quickly responds, showing his agitation at the girl's behavior.

Mae pulls a face at Dean's words, making Lilly laugh for a moment before she winces in pain.

"Uhh… or perhaps you wonderful gentleman can just leave our house. Cause like, yeah." Lilly says crossing her now bandaged arms petulantly, before mumbling "Ass-holes" under her breath.

"No, Lilly, they're right. I can't do it properly right now, so pick." Mae says smugly. _That's what you get for overreacting and being perpetually difficult. Oh God I am tired._ "Oh, God. Lilly. I'm so sorry." The boys both turn to Mae confused.

"For what? Being honest?" Dean asks as he plops in his earlier seat gathering the needle and thread.

"Mae, are you alright?" Sam asks even as he starts prodding at her earlier cut, hoping the concussion wasn't that serious.

"It's fine Mae, don't worry about it." Lilly says shrugging indifferently to her friend's atypical behavior before she turns to Dean, glaring at him as he inched closer. "Touch me with that needle, and I will bite you. Again." She snaps defensively.

"Oh? So, it's the hospital then?" Dean asks as his green eyes clash with her gold in an amusing stare-down.

"Sam, I'm fine; just tired. Promise." Mae responds to Sam after several moments breaking the tension between the two of them.

"But… I, uh, but… It's my wound, and my house, kinda. And I don't like hospitals. There are people there." _And they'll make Mae leave me, and then repeat._ She groans at the thought.

"Lilly, seriously! They are just trying to help. Look, I'm tired. And I'm worried about you. Right now, can you please just do this? Please? I don't want to go to the hospital tonight either and they are just trying to help. Can you please just agree? Please? I know it's not fair, but I don't know how much longer I can deal with this… this, this night? Morning?" Mae pleads with Lilly, eyes beginning to water.

Lilly sighs and pulls her knees up to her chest "Fine, whatever, I guess they can't do more damage than they've already caused, offense meant."

The boys both flinch at her comment as Mae spits out "Lilly!"

"No, it's alright. She's right. We kind of fucked up big on this one." Dean responds.

"Kind of? You think? Perhaps, just maybe?" Lilly responds bitterly.

"I thought you said this kind of thing happens all the time?" Sam asks with his best 'puppy-eyed' face on.

"Oh, you're right. How selfish of me. It's totally my fault that you decided to… to… do this. I mean, OK, it might be my fault. Who really knows? But, hey, assholes- don't try to justify this." Lilly snaps back, kind of, her fire doused when she admitted to herself they weren't wrong.

"Lilly, look we are sorry. And I know that doesn't cover it. At all. I know it's like trying to cover a dam with a Band-Aid. I know, I know. But we are. Sorry. Right, Dean?" Sam says as he looks pleadingly at his brother.

"Yeah, what he said. Sorry." Dean responds half-listening. _So, best way to do this? Just go in for it? Nah, might poke her. Shit. What did Sammy say? Eh. Best to just wait for her to submit, I suppose. God we're gonna be here awhile._

Mae sighs "See Lilly? Look, I understand and if I could, I would stitch you up myself. I get it's weird and not quite right asking the people who did this to you to patch you up, and normally I wouldn't dream about it. But these are John's kids. Bobby's nephews. Yes, they um... hiccupped, but Lilly let's be honest here. Lots of people hiccup when I'm not with you. So. Just. Let. Him. Stitch. You."

Lilly opens her mouth several times before sighing in surrender. "Fine. Do it." She huffs before half heartedly adding "Sorry about pissing you both off, and setting off your spidey senses."

"No. Oh God Lilly, that's not what we meant! Just… Look we fucked up. Royally. We get that it's a lot, I do mean a lot of clean up here, but we are sorry. I don't even remember why I was so mad and suspicious of you now. We are sorry." Sam all but sputters out defensively.

"Nah it's cool. I'll get over it soon. Just don't usually have to deal, I guess would be the word, with people who have just … ya know before… especially right after the deed was done… You know what I mean?"

"Noo, but I'm going to go with I can agree, not really easy letting the person who banged you up, patch you up. But I promise best of intentions right now." Dean says as he zones back in, plan set.

"Yeah, so, yeah. Just do it." Lilly states, still feeling uncertain about it.

"Thank God." Dean mutters under his breath as he brings the needle up to her gash and begins the stitching process. Looking at Sam _You should be the one doing this, Mr. Stanford. Eh. Stitches are so not my strong point, she's gonna…_

 _It's fine; he's a hunter, he must fix up himself and his family all the time. It's cool; it's fine. I'll just check right quick on his body language and then go right back to squinting. Oh-kay. One… Two..._

"Oh my Gods! My eyes! Hathor! I need my eyesight." Lilly ends up yelling causing all three of them to jump.

"What the fuck is wrong with you! You crazy bitch! I have a needle in my hand! That could have ended so bad for you! Stop it!" Dean reprimands.

"Lilly, Jesus, you can't be serious? Not everyone is going to poke you in the eye with a needle. I'm right here, it's fine." Mae scolds softly, her hand over her heart is trying to will it back to a slower pace.

"Lilly, maybe you should just keep your eyes shut…" Sam suggests softly eyeing both Dean and Lilly with concern.

"Maybe he should keep his eyes on the gash and the needle, cause the next time a needle goes into my eye I swear, to all that is holy in this world, someone is dying." Lilly seethes defensively with a huff.

Dean and Sam stare at Lilly in disbelief before looking to Mae for confirmation. "They made me leave her. Because 'I'm not family'- they said that! What a load of chocolate sprinkles!"

Dean snorted quietly. _I know what that was supposed to be. That's kind of adorable._

Mae calmed and continued. "I heard her screaming and a punch from outside the door. I'm not quite sure what happened, but yes, a doctor did in fact poke her in the eye with a needle. Now we don't do hospitals. Just, bad things happen when we are not together." _Obviously._

"Seriously?!" Dean and Sam say in a way only they can.

"Yes. Told you this happens a lot; so, please watch where you are waving that. Thank you." Lilly responds bitingly.

"Sorry Hufflepuff. It has my undivided attention." Dean responds somberly.

"Sure that doesn't take much." Lilly mumbles, flinching as the needle comes dangerously close again.

"Watch it, Hufflepuff. I still have the needle. Only a couple more to go. See this isn't too bad right?" Dean responds as he continues his self-appointed job.

"Thank you guys for doing this we do appreciate it. We always did hope to meet you both actually. Sorry it was under these circumstances, but again, it wouldn't be us if they weren't." Mae says after several moments of silence.

"Wish we could say the same, but Dad isn't much of a sharer." Sam responds almost bitterly.

"Too bad. He always speaks so highly of you both." Mae says, her eyes locked on to Lilly as Dean finishes the last stitch.

"And there we go. It'll be good as new. Eventually. Would have been better but you move a lot for someone who doesn't want a needle in the eye."

"Sorry. It's just..."

"No. No more 'it's just'. Every time one of you say that phrase it's followed by something horrific. You're welcome. I'm awesome. Thank you for letting me help you." _Stubborn much?_

"Bobby's right, you are full of yourself. Yes, he talks about you too, before you ask." Lilly says ignoring his other comments.

Sam chuckles out loud before quickly covering it with a cough, purposely ignoring his brother's pointed look.

"You alright there Sammy?" Dean asks, irked by his brother's response.

"Just, you know, something in my throat." Sam responds with a smile.

"You're all just children." Mae yawns. "Thank you again for patching up Lilly, we really appreciate it." She adds as she lays her head in her arms, exhausted. "Do you think Bobby actually put up those signs? About our shop being down? Cause I just don't think we can manage it today."

"Well, if he didn't, we certainly will. No worries." Sam says as he looks at both the girls; each weary with exhaustion. Remorse fills him as he realises that they might have just ruined the girl's lives.

"We'll come by tomorrow to fix up the drywall." Dean says as he too notices the girls' state. Guilt flooding him.

"Use the front door next time." Lilly grumbles.

"You guys going to be alright making it to bed tonight?" Sam asks, not wanting them to be forced to sleep in their kitchen.

"Mmm hmm." Mae murmurs as Lilly just nods with a yawn, neither very convincing.

"Right, well why don't we see you both to bed, we can lock the house up after ourselves." Sam says causing Lilly to make some odd type of snort-yawn.

The brothers smile over the girls. They begin to quietly pack the strange bottles and tins back into the first aid kits. It's not long before the silence is broken by light snoring, coming from either side of the table. Sam smiles as Dean huffs out a sigh.

Sam gestures to Mae and points upstairs before gesturing similarly to Lilly and Dean.

 _Oh fuck you, Sammy. I don't think this is a good idea, nor fair. I was just barely grazing her good side. Damn it,_ Dean scowls as he watches his brother pick Mae up like she's nothing. _Aw, well kinda wanted to see the scars anyways, and no time like when she's passed out… Wow, that sounded wrong. But anyways..._

Groaning quietly in protest, Dean follows suit picking Lilly up gently and directs Sam to their rooms.

"Just be as quick as possible. Don't want to undo what we just did by you staying in there too long. We really need to look into this." Sam whispers as they walk up the stairs.

"Yeah? No kidding, Einstein." Dean mutters back quietly.

Sam drops Mae off first, tucking her in and moving her hair from her face, whispering a final "Sorry. See you tomorrow." before exiting the room. _She's so pretty, even in sleep._

Dean sighs as a sleeping Lilly curls into him subconsciously while he waits to deposit her in her room. He would have done it already, but was hoping that loitering in front of Mae's room would keep his anger at bay.

 _You certainly are a weird one, Hufflepuff. Sorry that what happened today, uh… happened. That's not like me, at all._ Dean apologizes to her sleeping form, looking up only when his brother comes out and gestures for them to continue to Lilly's room.

Dean doesn't think twice and happily rests the stubborn girl on her bed without much preamble; only stopped by his curiosity. He pauses, looks back at Sam before rolling his eyes and tucking her in careful to leave one of her hands out of the blanket as he swiftly checks it for the scars. _Are they really that… Jesus! What the fuck happened to her? Are there more? Who did this? Shit, they weren't joking, were they? Oh God, and we added to it. Helping people, huh? Right. Fuck._ Dean wraps her wrist back up carefully and exits the room.

Sam is waiting for him in the hallway with a thoughtful look and they both make their way down the stairs.

"So… Bobby's?"

"Duh. Bobby's." Dean responds as they head back to their car vowing to clean up the girls' house later in the day. _We'll come back - after some questions are answered._


	13. Chapter 13

36

Dean knocks loudly on the familiar door.

"Are you sure we should be here this early? I mean, the man said he was jetlagged. Who knows how long he was on a plane? Or what he was even doing… wherever it is he was doing it."

Dean looks at his brother. "Shut up. He said come over, so we are. Besides, I still have questions about those girls. C'mon Sammy, even you can feel somethin's off with them."

A moment later, Bobby appears at the door. "Aren't you idjits here a bit early?" The insult lessened as he allows them in.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine." Dean walks through the doorway and heads for the study.

"Yes, please, by all means. Come in and make yerselves at home." Bobby waits for Sam to come in before shutting the door more forcefully than necessary.

"Thanks, Bobby." Sam looks sheepish as he follows Dean.

Bobby watches them carefully as they move books and papers around to find a seat. _Somethin's up; neither grabbed a beer b'fore sittin' down._

He walks over to his desk, electing to lean in front of it instead of sitting behind it. "So, ya here 'bout the case, or those girls?"

Sam and Dean both give him a look and begin speaking at the same time.

"Oh shut it, don't make up lame excuses." He shouts over them, interrupting and silencing them at once, "And just what the Hell is so surprising about me knowin'em anyway? We live in the same, fucking small-ass town. So, ask yer questions. An'then, can we maybe get back to solving the death of a Hunter?"

He sits back on the desk and folds his arms.

"Wait, Ethan was a Hunter? But his house, we didn't find anything that out of the ordinary." Sam says, shocked that they missed something else with this case.

"Seriously. No weapons, no books, there wasn't even table salt on the …" Dean starts to add.

"Well, part of that was me. I went over and reclaimed the books I lent him. Ethan was green, just startin' the life. He came to me for help, but all he wanted was a few books. I don't even know if he was huntin' yet, or just readin' up. Some of my books are missing though, so it seems that whatever got'ta him, also robbed him. He was acting real strange a few days before he died. Yer dad had been here a few days too, according to Mae. Now that I know that, John might have taken some of my books too." Bobby's eyes narrow, "Guess I'm gonna hav'ta start calling him. My copy of the Book of Enoch is very hard to get and very valuable." He sighs, the memory of their last meeting bubbling to the surface.

Dean shifts on the window seat, also remembering the last time his dad was in the same room as Bobby. It wasn't a good memory. Bobby had been so proud that Sam had decided to go to college. Dad was so upset? Annoyed? Pissed?… Something. Damn, that had been a hard fight to watch.

"So, you already know what did it?" Sam asks, frustrated to be put on a case by their dad if someone else had already solved it.

"Not completely, no. But I think a demon was involved. I found sulfur. S'why I was out of the country; went to visit The Vatican. Got a few more books to help us all out. An' a couple more ingredients for rituals too."

Both brothers look at him sideways for a moment. "Yes, for rituals, ya idjits. God-damn, you two are on edge tonight. Hopefully some sleep will knock some sense into ya." Bobby responds with an eye roll. "Now, speakin' of rituals and underlyin' subtexts... Just ask yer questions. I wanna sleep b'fore dawn." Bobby says gruffly spurring both brothers into spewing out questions.

"One atta time, ya idjits! I'm not a damned mind-reader." Thank the lord for that.

"Okay, okay! Shut up Sam. What's up with Lilly? Has anyone ever really looked into her? I mean, I don't even remember why I was so… blinded by rage near her. I appreciate her covering for me, but, I did some things and I was so sure this time..." He pauses as his voice strains slightly. "But now, I don't remember where all that, that anger came from." Dean says rubbing his hand over his forehead. I really can't remember why anymore and that just bothers me…

Bobby moves a stack of papers and sighs deeply before beginning. "Well yeah, most of the Hunters that have passed through here have noticed somethin' strange; some even looked into it. The general consensus is that she's cursed. But no one's really sure, and all the ways I've thought to test it are generally… unpleasant." He grimaces and shakes his head.

"A curse? People can be cursed too? I thought it was just objects that could be cursed?" Dean asks, his head tilted in confusion. _Oh God; that poor girl. I can't believe we were so susceptible to it. We didn't even know. The thought never even crossed my mind._

 _Well I guess that's where the gut feeling came from._ Sam guiltily mulls over his actions.

"Wait, if she is cursed, how does Mae negate it? I mean she's like a null and void to the thing. Almost. At least for me. Every time she came in I gotta lot less pissed an' my head cleared. Weird, right? I mean, shit…" Dean asks with confusion clear in his tone and both brothers both look to Bobby expectantly.

"Yea, Mae does do that, ain't quite sure how. I looked into it, but I ain't seen nothing like it in any texts I've come across…" Bobby answers with a shrug.

They sit in silence for several moments before Dean asks "Why does Lilly have so many scars? I mean… are they all from people like us? There's a lot of them, and they're all so... nasty. D'ya know how long she's been… Cursed?"

Bobby takes off his hat and scratches his balding scalp. "I s'pose I've known her since the O'Connell's adopted her… She was seven or eight I think. She was always known as the town's trouble maker as a kid. I can be near her for an hour or two at most now a'days before it creeps up on me… As for the scars, I'd say yes. She really has a knack for pissing people off."

"Wait, you've known them that long? Both of them? Why have you never mentioned them? The three of you seem so familiar with one another. It was kinda weird to watch." Sam interjects as he leans back in his chair, chin in his hand as he listens.

"Well, I don't know Sam. Jesus! I ain't gonna to tell you everyone I ever met. That and I knew they were about your age Dean, and boy, ye got a reputation for messin' around with girls. Yes, Mae too, by the way." Bobby smiles as an unexpected memory creeps up on him. "Shoot, my wife was very happy when she heard that her friend, River, was expecting a baby." Bobby frowns in silence, his eyes staring off into the distance.

"So, you've known Mae since she was born? How does Dad know them?" Sam asks as curiosity eats away at him.

"High school bake sale, at a grocery market is how they met if I remember correctly, but I prob'ly don't." Bobby shrugs still not thrilled with John.

"Right. It always comes back to the pie." Dean sighs, once again distracted by baked goods.

"You Winchesters and yer pie." Bobby responds rolling his eyes as Sam holds up his hands. "Hey, I don't like pie."

"Cause you're a freak with health smoothies." Dean mumbles under his breath.

"Dean, there's nothing wrong with a healthy alternative to our shit lifestyle." Sam responds with a glare.

"So why doesn't Mae get mad?" Dean asks as he glares back at his brother.

"I really couldn't tell ya. Infinite willpower and patience? Yoga maybe? None of us have been quite able to suss that one out… And, dammit, it's not like we could just ask. Up till tonight they seemed mostly oblivious to it. Lilly just assumes it's her personality and Mae just sees the good in everything. Now that ya two idjits done messed that up… I dunno. S'pose it wouldn't hurt to ask 'em outright."

"So you're sure, without a doubt, neither are supernatural? Researched everything? The whole nine yards? Cause, I mean, you've known them for that long… Has it always been like this for Lilly?" Dean asks just wanting to triple-check the supernatural angle.

Bobby rolls his eyes "Yes Dean. I've checked. Other hunters have checked. Silver, salt, an' holy water. Hell, even an exorcism or three just in case. Girl just pisses people off, even as a sprat. You met her as an adult; imagine meeting a child that drove those feelings in ya. It was awful. Only thing I've ever found that's helped is Mae; can't for the life of me explain it."

"So is Mae like, cursed too then?" Sam asks, thinking to his own earlier encounter of the girl and the feelings it elicited.

"Why would you think she was cursed?" Dean snorts in jest, "Because she nulls Lilly and has to stay with her all the time? I mean that much time with Lilly would probably be a terrible curse, since she's such a 'pleasant person' an all"

Bobby glares at him "Don't be an asshole, imagine how people hating you your whole life for no reason would make you less than a delicate flower."

 _I guess that's true._ Dean makes a face, his laughter fading as he thinks for a moment. "Or does this have something to do with Mae getting kn…." Dean catches himself, "hhhurmm… you having to carry her back in?" Dean casts a glance up to Bobby, who suddenly doesn't look very happy with Sam.

"I gotta admit, it's been awhile since anyone's laid a hand on Mae. She looked pretty banged up when I got there. But, she was also the calmest in the room, so I didn't push too hard to find out what happened. Consider me pushin' as of right now." Bobby's arms cross tighter, his glare lingers just a bit longer than normal.

"No! No, Bobby. It wasn't anything like that. Wait, people have hurt her before?" Sam's concern for Mae and personal preservation work together to try and sway the conversation.

"Yes, but right now I'm more concerned with what you did. And you should be more concerned with alleviating my concern." Bobby says sternly.

Sam nearly gulps in surprise. "Um, well, it was strange. Lilly told her to run, and she did. I mean, God, she's fast. Like track fast." He pauses for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

"Right. Well, why was she so banged up? I get Lilly. Trust me, I do, but what happened to Mae, Sam?" Bobby grits out.

Dean looks to his brother with a smug smirk. "Yeah, Sammy. What happened?"

"Yeah, OK. So, she's running and ducking behind trees. I swear, the only reason I even found her was because she pulled out her phone. I just barely saw the light. So, I tackled her to the ground to get it away from her. We, uh, I..." Sam blushes slightly at the memory of what came next.

"Come on Sammy, get to the part about her jumping off ya. That's the part I wanna hear." Dean can hardly hold his laughter in.

"Umm, well. You know, she struggled. I tried to tell her we just needed to talk. We tumbled around a bit, and... OK, I was just trying to keep ahold of her at this point. But, yeah, um, she ended up on top of me, and she kinda freaked out, she ended up doing this jack-in-the-box move that sent her flying. By the time I… recovered... she was already knocked out. I think she hit her head on a root. But that's it Bobby. I swear." Sam rushes through his explanation, hoping beyond hope his embarrassment isn't obvious.

Bobby sighs as he wipes his face in frustration. "She knocked herself out? Sounds like Mae." He grumbles in exasperation, rolling his eyes as he shook his head.

Dean snickers at his brother's story. He knew that face; something else went on, but he'd get that outta Sammy later.

"So, sounds like the working theory's that they're both cursed." He wraps up lamely.

"Yeah, though Mae being cursed don't really play into the curses area. It's hard to explain." Bobby nods his head in agreement. "It's just I know no tests that either have had a reaction to. And if they are, it's hard to pin point. I suppose now that they know this crap exists-" He shoots both boys a dark look "-it might be easier to find a counter-curse that isn't Mae. Who isn't cursed in any standard way." Bobby muddles through the explanation as he rubs the bridge of his nose, exhaustion finally catching up with him.

"Well, we're going to head out and let you sleep, man. Sorry to come a'knockin' so early. You can get your beauty rest now. We hav'ta go stock up on some home repair stuff. Oh, and solve a murder. No big." Dean says, standing up.

"You better." Bobby grumbles as he walks them to the door and shuts it rather loudly as they trek back to their car.


	14. Chapter 14

37

"So learn a lesson?…" Mae asks her friend as she continues counting the inventory.

"Um, define 'learn'?" is the easy response back as Lilly frosts another cupcake with a smirk, ignoring the twinge of pain the simple facial expression caused her.

"Like, not pissing off random men? Especially when they are threatening you with a shotgun?" Mae asks; she's now looking pointedly at her friend.

Several moments of silence pass as Lilly stares at a cupcake in silent contemplation.

"Honestly?" She sighs. "The thing I learned was yes, there was a gun, and I'm not crazy. Don't know why we had to give it back by the way… I want to start a trophy collection. We can make a wall of it entitled 'All the shitty scenarios we survive' it'll be, like a memory wall, it'd be neat."

"Lilly!" Mae shouts in complete frustration feeling the need to throttle her friend.

"Mae!" Lilly mimics back, using the same tone, with a light smile on her face as she frosts another cupcake. "See? Look! I can sound like a scornful mother hen too… Sounds better with you though. Fits you, harpy."

"I hate you." Mae smiles, sticking her tongue out at her sister.

"Love you too." Lilly smiles back.

"I thought we were done talking about this. You've been asking about that for two whole days. I'm back in the shop, everything is clearing up. It's fine." _Well medically anyways… really need to fit in a visit with my shrink soon; bitch will have a field day with this one… She should really be paying me._ "Hey Mae… do you think I can get Marie to start paying me for the visits?" Lilly asks innocently, as she picks up a different shade of icing and continues her task at hand.

"No Lilly. As humorous as your antics are, I don't… However if you ever had a study done on you…" Mae leaves off, finishing up the inventory and placing it on a desk to be later entered into their accounting program. _I think I'm done with office work for today though._

"Oh, shut it. You know I'm awesome. If I ever did one of those they'd never give me back to you, and where would that leave you? Alone, and bored to tears, I assure you."

"Or, I don't know? Sane, perhaps is the word I would use." Mae responds as she pulls up a stool and goes about decorating the last batch of the cupcakes. She winces and shakes her hand out when her first attempted grip pulls at the stitches on her palm.

"Oh Mae, how you wound me." Lilly says clutching at her chest in a display of overdramatized heartache.

"How did you trick me into counting inventory again anyways? We both know you don't have the attention span to frost cupcakes…" Mae asks looking at the cupcakes in question with a careful eye, if only to humor her friend.

"Shut it. You know I only suck at detail work… And because you love me…And, obviously, the fact you have stitches, cause, yeah, that too…." Lilly remarks with a smirk as she finishes the last of her batch.

"So, on a completely different note… Do you think the boys might stop by… Or, I don't know, pull a John…" Mae asks pausing mid pipe to look at her friend who stilled at the words.

"I think that those two are barely like John. Well, Sam's got a bit more of John, I suppose. But, no. I'm not sure…. So, do you really not think it's gross that I was drooling all over his boys? Cause, like, if you ever mention it to John I might kill you…." _Oh God, this is super awkward; of course it would be Mae's surrogate father figure's sons I would completely make an ass out of my self over… Fuck me._

"Why? I think it's fabulous you are finally showing interest in boys. Maybe it's a good thing; I needed some leverage on you anyways. What better blackmail than the way you tomato-ed over the two of them." Mae responds playfully just as Lilly gets up to take the pies out of the oven when the timer buzzes.

"So, how obvious do you think that was…. Mae?" Lilly asks, surprisingly insecure about how much verbal diarrhea she had exhibited. Not to mention the ugly rash that had developed since she had met them, which increased tenfold once she found out she had been salivating over John's kids. _Cause like, ew._

 _Wow, with me teasing like that, she should have done… I don't know, something. Is she really that upset?_ Mae stays quiet for a moment, thinking of the best way to answer her.

Lilly is silent as she pulls the pies out. _Why isn't she answering me? Oh Gods, it was bad wasn't it? I can never look at any of the Winchesters again. Oh fuck, did they tell Bobby what I did? Should we just move? Would Mae move if I told her not moving would kill me? We could totally start over, I mean it would suck, kinda, but we'd deal. She has people skills. I have… my awesome ability to….to… be awesome. Yeah I like that. Moving doesn't seem that bad..._

"So- Mae, seriously how obvious?" Lilly pouts as she settles in next to her, setting up several of the pies, frown firmly in place as she pins her best friend with the saddest set of puppy eyes she can muster.

"Um, well… not that…" Mae begins arranging then rearranging their products right as their front door chimes. _Oh thank God!_ "Welcome to Cakes, Cookies, and Pies, Oh My!" Mae says grateful that her prayer was answered as she stands up to talk to customers. She smiles when she sees two familiar figures taking a closer look at the 'paraphernalia' on the walls.

38

At the look on Mae's face, Lilly's stomach plummets and her never ceasing rash returns with a vengeance as she sinks lower to the floor. _Oh Gods why?_ She thinks as she tries with all her might to communicate telepathically with Mae to not draw attention to her.

"Still convinced we're witches, huh?" Mae asks in a teasing manner.

Both men look up as she's talking; a small smile displayed on Sam's face, and a goofy grin on Dean's.

"Nah, I was just admiring your Rock music memorabilia. Very nice collection of the most awesome bands ever." Dean walks up to the pie tower to admire the offerings of the day.

"Well, most of that is stuff Lilly collected. She loves rock music, especially Metallica. Right, Lilly?" Mae says as she shoots a look at Lilly and tries to pull her friend up from the floor behind the counter. Lilly looks at Mae with betrayal and fights her off before realizing that she's making a bigger fool of herself and just rises as if nothing had just happened. The rash, however, was now even brighter.

"That right? They're one of my favorite bands too. Classic rock is the best." Dean smiles, taking his eyes from mount pie-ness to look at Lilly, but frowns when he looks over the several bruises still marring her face. _The bruises I put there._

"Can we get you guys anything?" Mae asks, trying to give Lilly another moment to compose herself.

"Like my pie?" Lilly questions playfully; her eyes widen in mortification at the innuendo-laced words that just spilled out of her mouth, yet again. _Why?! Why do I hate myself? They're John's kids for fuck's sakes. This rash is going to be permanent. Great._

"Like some pie, she meant some pie. Or maybe lunch?" _OH MY GOD! Are we really doing this again?_

"Sure, I'd like some pie. Which one did you make Lilly?" Dean begins a more thorough investigation on the displayed pies, apparently oblivious to the earlier statements.

Lilly's blush darkens as she begins to mutter "Cherry." unable to stop herself.

Mae's hand stretches out, quickly covering her mouth and saying louder "Apple. She just made some apple."

Sam rolls his eyes and Mae smiles when she realizes that either Dean doesn't care, or didn't even catch it.

"Actually, we got a call to go do another investigation. But, we wanted to come apologize again for the bad mix up. And, getting you both hurt. And, exposing you to our work. And traumatizing you both. And-" Sam continues their list of sins against the girls.

"No, it's fine. Please don't list everything." Mae interrupts, holding up her hand. She pulls out a couple of delivery boxes and hands them to Lilly. "Here. Whatever they want."

Lilly looks from the boxes, to the boys, to Mae with a look of trepidation. _Why do you hate me?_ She sighs and just begins loading the boxes up with slices of pie. Even going as far to alternate them so more can fit in the box, happy for the distraction. _Pie-Tetris, my favorite game; they fit so nicely together. Oh, and no talking. Yay! Oh... Mae knows me so well._

"That's so very kind of you ladies." Dean says, almost to the point of drooling. "Oh, can I have a few extra of the cherry? That was so good the last time I ate here." _Oh, please let Lilly start ramble flirting; she's fun to mess with._

Lilly literally stops and breathes in deeply for a moment. She swallows the many different lines she would normally shoot out, since she's unsure if Dean was purposefully fucking with her, or he legit liked the cherry pie. Her skin all-but-glowing again from embarrassment; she nods quickly, just grabs a larger to-go pie box and slides the whole thing in.

Dean's eyes crinkled in appreciation. He watches her place the containers gently in a bag and pile napkins and cutlery on top. Before he can tease her again, she disappears to the back without saying another word. _Such a weird chick..._

"While we're here though, we wanted to give you some help. You know, in case anything ever goes bump in the night around you two." Sam pulls some paper out of his pocket and hands it to Mae.

Mae smooths the papers out to find a handwritten list of seemingly random items.

"What's this for? Salt? Iron?" She looks up at Sam, confusion evident in her eyes, along with a small amount of fondness.

Sam looks into her eyes for a moment, not sure what he saw flash there. "Well, like I said, we feel responsible for dragging you both into this. The least we can do is give you some tips. And, you know, you can always ask Bobby for help too."

Ignoring the duo having a conversation, Lilly returns and puts another bag next to the one full of confections. Her face now wet but less red, as she scratches at the back of her head.

"Well, not that meeting the both of you hasn't been the longest, singular most awkward moment of my young adult life, though by far the least damaging, we wanted to thank you… Well, mostly Mae, but still, um, yeah… We kinda hoped you might stop by… Or some shit..." Lilly says and then quickly makes her exit back to the safety of the kitchen, where she proceeds to lament her inability to communicate with other humans.

"The pies are very appreciated. Sammy, I'm glad the best pie in the world happens to be right here near Bobby. Ladies, we'll be back." He ends the statement using his best 'Terminator' voice on the last three words. With that, he grabs the bag of to-go pie and heads out.

Sam shakes his head, smiling at his brother's antics. He turns backs to Mae, who is also smiling.

"He's not wrong though, we will be back. In the meantime," He points to the pages he gave her. "Instructions are on the back. Plus, our numbers, in case you need to reach us. But, you'll probably have to leave a message; the job and all that. But, uh, yeah. I guess we'll be seeing you."

Mae hugs Sam quickly before he turns to walk out. "Thanks." She says quietly into his chest.

Sam's confused by her gratitude; he holds her out at arm's length to look her in the face.

"Why are you thanking me?" He asks, tilting his head slightly to the side, while his eyes search hers.

"For listening to me when I told you to stop hurting Lilly. I never got the chance to thank you. And you know, for doing what you do. It's kinda cool, in a saving-everyone-from-bad-stuff-and-no-one-even-knows-super-hero-kind-of-way." _Oh my God I'm picking up bad, bad habits from Lilly._ She blushes at her realization. "Um… Here, don't forget this." She turns to grab the bag from the counter and hands it to him. "It's not much, but we hope you like it." She smiles up at him, blushing again. "And we really do expect to see you again soon. That pie won't last Dean long."

Sam stands there for a moment, happy to finally find friendly people that know what they do, and appreciate it. "Thanks Mae." He gives her a quick side hug, then turns and leaves.

"What took you so long?" Dean asks as Sam slides into the passenger seat, a piece of pie already half-eaten in his hand.

"Oh, umm, just saying bye. Weird week, right?" Sam distractedly begins looking through the bag. "Huh…" Sam smiles as he pulls out a few containers with labels on them. "Looks like we won't be stopping for a bit."

"Of course we don't have to stop for a while; we got pie." Dean glances at the food container in Sam's hand. "Oh, righ… I mean. Oh, well, wasn't that nice of them to make a lunch for us? What'd they make?"

Sam just shakes his head and smiles at his brother's overpowering love for pie. _Is that considered an addiction? When the Hell did he even develop that?_

"Well, looks like a few salads, some wraps, a few bacon burgers. And uh…Candy. And junk food. Like someone bought a small convenience store." Sam informs as he begins pulling chocolate bars of all different flavors and other candies one would find at the checkout counter of a grocery store.

Dean tilts his head "Candy?" he says as he attempts to grab the bag from his brother only to have Sam tug back.

"Hey, you got pie, this is obviously meant for me." Sam teases his brother as he pulls the bag back towards himself.

"But… It's unhealthy…And totally not salad." Dean all but pouts as he tugs on the bag again wanting to see what type of sweets it contained as Sam frowns at him.

"Dude, there's like eighteen different flavors of pie, I call dibs on the candy… and I don't only eat health-conscious foods." Sam continues to tease as he further investigates the bag of food. "Oh look, Apples. I bet these came from their garden."

Dean shakes his head in obvious disagreement but doesn't say anything else as he pulls out of the parking lot and heads towards the highway. He smiles when his brother shows his obvious interest in the fruit. _It's kinda odd the girls did this… I mean we broke into their house and beat the shit out of one of them… Why were they being so nice, what did I do to deserve this? I mean when was the last time someone got me a gift?_ Dean wonders with a frown; his mind going down memories he cherished as much as feared, as he fingered the last gift he'd received, his ever-present amulet.

"Huh. There's another bag in here." Sam says as he pulls out a bag that had been hidden underneath the large amount of food.

Dean eyes the package and his brother from his peripheral vision as he takes the proper exit but can't keep from being curious. His eyes darting from the bag to the road several times as his brother stares at it like a lost puppy.

"You gonna open it this year, Sammy?" he asks gruffly, his curiosity creeping.

Sam chuckles at his brother's impatience as he opens the bag. His face blanks before he begins chuckling. A copy of 'The Most Haunted Places in America' with a picture of Alcatraz on the cover, was just staring at him and he couldn't deny the humor in the girls' literary choice. _Why did we ever think they were witches?_

Dean looks over at his brother, brow raised; he snorts at the cover and rolls his eyes.

"Really?"

After several moments Sam is able to regain his composure and takes the book out placing it on his lap, smiling at the next book. The new title was not nearly as ridiculous and boasted the title 'Must Eats' in All Fifty States'.

"Please don't tell me there's another book about ghosts?" Dean asks. He's looking at the bag skeptically; his excitement's dropping as he worries it holds another crap-like-that book. Sam shakes his head and pulls it further out of the bag to give Dean a better look. At seeing the picture and the title he smiles.

"Awesome."

Sam thumbs through a couple of pages in the book as Dean taps his thumbs on the steering wheel conflicted. It had literally been years since he had received gifts. Maybe Sammy had gotten some in his years at Stanford, but he had been alone for the most part. Sure there was Dad, but he was 'Dad'. John never remembered holidays or gifts and he was fine with it, he really was… But it was nice, to get gifts. It was a weird feeling, and one he hadn't expected. He thought of asking Sammy if there was anything else, since it was a fair sized bag and the only thing to come of it were two books.

Several long moments passed before Sammy finally put the second book on top of the first and pulled out a vintage Batman lunch tin and Dean's eyes widened.

 _Batman._ "Awesome!" Dean exclaims grabbing the tin from his brother and swerving his baby.

"Damn it Dean! Watch what you're doing! Eyes on the road!" Sam yelled eyes wide with terror as his brother nearly killed them.

Dean smirked and held the box for closer inspection as he straightened out the wheel.

"But Sammy, it's Batman." He says, looking at the box with mixed feelings. The memory of how much he had wanted one as a kid being very close to bubbling over the top before he squelched it, and steeled his gaze. He handed it back over to his brother, who, in a very Winchester-like fashion ignored the brief look of hurt, so Dean could save face.

 _Oh the joys of strolling down memory lane._ Sam thinks sardonically, as he opens the tin and looks at the compartmentalized lunch box. There were several bags along with several small containers, all marked with neat scrawl. He couldn't stop his head tilting in curiosity as he picked up the first bag which was neatly labeled with the name, ingredients, effects, and directions; he sniffed it before laughing. _This is why we thought they were witches, I remember now..._

With one look at the box's contents, Dean could not help the derisive snort as he eyed the items. _Yeah, of fucking course they would make actual potions and brews._ "We really need to talk to them about this, Sammy? If that wasn't in dime bags, a Hunter could mistake them for hex bags…"

"Dean, it's just tea…" He looked over the containers which were very similarly labeled. "And balms. New age and holistic followers brew this all the time. It's not exactly normal, no. But it's certainly not witchcraft either." Sam explains, his head shaking at Dean's bleak outlook. He continues sorting through the teas and found a steeper to prove his point holding out the ball and chain for his brother to see.

"I still feel justified for thinkin' they're witches." Dean says petulantly as Sammy pulls his bitchface. "Not saying they are, just saying they are not helping…"

The brothers sit in silence for several moments letting this whole trip to Sioux Falls sink in. So much had happened in under a week. They attacked the wrong suspects, Dean literally beating one of them, missed their father (yet again), came up empty handed on an important case, and felt no closer on any leads as to what killed their fellow Hunter. They were both sick of being one step behind their dad… It was just a lot to take in, for each of them, and both for very different personal reasons.

On the plus side, though, they had made friends. Well, at least as close to friends as Hunters could get. People who knew of their lifestyles, were even heavily influenced by it, and took it in stride. It was nice. They may not have been the most normal, but that didn't matter to either of the young Winchesters.

They drove for several hours stewing in their thoughts and somberly eating the food the girls provided for them before pulling up to another sleazy hotel to spend the night. It was only then that they looked through the rest of the contents in the second bag.

There were two wrapped packages; one labeled for each of them with their name written on it.

Sam's was wrapped in an emerald green silk scarf with his name in the same neat scrawl with a note.

 _I know you guys haven't had an easy life. You and your whole family are constantly surrounded by death and darkness. But I'm glad to know that in a world with evil lurking in the darkness, there are people like you, Dean, Bobby and John. I want to apologize for how strange we acted at times, and also wanted to take this chance to explain. I'm very protective of the relationship I have with your dad. He's been a 'tough love' kind of mentor since my family passed away. And Bobby has always been there for me. Hopefully one day, if you all are ever in town at the same time, we can sit down and talk over coffee or something. In the meantime, I found something in my house and, after meeting you, I'm sure you need it more than I. It's an amethyst and it's said to help with dreams, helps guard the wearer, and aids in healing. Good luck out there, Sam. –Mae_

Sam pulls a box from the scarf. Inside he finds a very clear purple stone surrounded by silvery grey beads. He slides it over his wrist, realizing it's just too big to be a bracelet.

The second package was wrapped in a blood red piece of silk that had Dean's name written in chicken scratch. The letter was a lot shorter; Dean wasn't sure if the writing was bad out of nervousness or crappy penmanship, but it was the sentiment behind the words that caught Dean off guard.

 _Hey, sorry about the trouble we caused, Cowboy, I wish you the best of luck in the world… I've always been a bit obsessed with… well any ways the pendent represents truth, justice, morality, … It just seemed to fit you. Thanks for not killing me, or harming Mae. Also, sorry if shit got weird.-Lilly_

Dean read the note several times with a small frown, while guilt flooded his system. How ironic that the girl he beat to the point of a concussion would write such a note. Curious now, he slowly, almost tentatively, unwrapped the package and just stared at the odd looking crimson feather on a long leather throng, with another smaller note.

 _Seriously Cowboy, I'm over it. Go be the hero, just you know, make better decisions._

Flashbacks hit the two brothers hard as they stare at their assigned gifts before Dean finally breaks the silence.

"I thought guys were supposed to buy the jewelry? Of course those two hippies would buck the trend. Feminists." Dean spits out the last word as if it were a curse, masking his true thoughts on the peculiar girls and the gifts they had given them.

Sam just rolls his eyes at his brother's flippant behavior. It was obvious that neither brother was taking the odd, 'over-generous' gifts well.

Sam even went as far as swallowing hard as he barely whispered "There's still more."

Thus earning a groan and face palm from Dean."Seriously? Man, what the fuck? We beat them and they send us off with delicious food and gifts? I think they are witches."

Sam just stares at his brother blankly before shifting his weight and sighing. "Look man, they aren't witches… They are just normal girls, well cursed, normal girls. When I was at Stanford, girls gave going away packages to their friends all the time. It's normal Dean." Sam says even as he agrees that it was still odd that the girls had gone through this much trouble especially when he pulled out the last two items.

One was a CD caddy and the other was most obviously a pocket photo album with the word Family written over it, in a very generic fashion. The two men just stared at the items with quirked eyebrows before Dean picked up the CD's with an apprehensive look and quickly put them and the "Most Haunted" book behind his seat as Sam reached for the photo album and flipped through the pages. Bobby and John were obviously the main focus, but the girls showed up in some of the pictures as well. On the front cover a letter was attached, starting in the small neat writing Sam was beginning to become familiar with, which read;

 _'Hey, sorry if this is overload, but John and Bobby_

 _have been talking about you both for years, and we_

 _figured that the two of you probably lack certain mementos,_

 _it's not much, but it's the only thing we could scrounge at_

 _the last minute. As you could probably guess neither John nor_

 _Bobby are much for photos but we happen to be very convincing._

 _Hope this is more of a help than a hindrance._

 _-Mae_

 _P.S Enjoy the music._

 _-Lilly_

 _P.S.S. You bitches better visit soon._

 _Mae's a worrier and a Harpy modes a bitch…_

 _Also Good luck, with what you do._

 _Don't tie up any more innocents and then_

 _make empty threats with rock salt._

 _\- Lilly again_

 _P.S.S.S. Also, please don't die._

 _-Still Lilly_

 _P.S.S.S.S. Sorry I didn't put as much thought into this as Mae_

 _before writing._

 _-Yep it's Lilly'_


	15. Epilogue

39

Back in the shop, Mae and Lilly are winding down after the evening rush. Mae finishes scrubbing tables and the front end counters, and begins collecting books that were left out, placing them lovingly back on the shelves. After a moment of contemplation, she decides to pull the books she and Lilly are reading and places them on their table.

"How's the back looking Lilly?" Mae asks, "Do you need any help?"

Lilly pauses her scrubbing and looks around at the things that she still has to do. "Would you even help me if I said yes?" She scowls back, "Cuz, I kinda do." Her tone softened by the fact that she smiles as Mae walks into the kitchen. "Please?"

"No problem," Mae begins scrubbing dishes as well, "Front's done and our baking list is laid out."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got all the inventory done, the prep is clean and the grill is clean. After the dishes we just need to mop. Guess it's an all nighter tonight." Lilly grumbles under her breath.

"I don't think an all nighter is needed, but we did have quite a lot of business this afternoon. I guess we could always get a head start on the special orders for this weekend. Get the cakes all baked and crumb coated tonight…" Mae suddenly jumps, dropping the pan she was washing.

Before Lilly can even ask "WTF?", Mae pulls her phone from her pocket.

"Still on edge huh?" Lilly teases as Mae looks at the unknown number on the ID.

"Hello?" Mae says into the phone, rolling her eyes at Lilly. Her eyes widen momentarily before she breaks out in a big smile.

 _Oh great. I bet that's one of them calling her already_ … Lilly scrubs the pan a little harder.

"Hey John, it's just me and Lilly in the shop, mind if I put you on speaker?"

 _Uh, great, I was hoping for more time before I had to explain this to him._ Mae pulls the phone away and presses a button. "Ok, we're both listening."

"Look girls, I'm sorry that you met my boys the way you did. Bobby told me they got rough with you. I wish I had talked to them, or something. I never would have wanted you two hurt or told about this life." John says, genuine regret evident in his voice.

"No, No. John, don't be like that. It's not all bad." Mae tries to comfort John.

Lilly rolls her eyes at her friend, moving closer to the phone. "Don't worry about it, John. You know things like this've happened before. Your boys aren't that special, can't be in a room alone with me anymore than anyone else. We handled it. So don't go kicking their asses or anything."

John's laughter can be heard over the phone, though it sounds like he is trying to cover it up. "I'll let them know you saved them from an ass-whooping Lilly. Bet that'll make'em steam. Especially Dean."

The line goes quiet for a moment.

"Hey John," Mae starts, timidly, "you know they are looking for you right? They seem really worried, even scared."

"Yeah, you should have heard them freaking out over pictures and your phone... Oh yeah, by the way, you left your phone. Thanks for that." Lilly says, brooding.

"Yeah, I should've told you I was leaving it with you. I had to get out of there fast after what happened, and I had a lot on my mind. It's got Dean's and Sam's numbers in it. And a few of mine, if you need to get me a message." He pauses for a moment, "I got worried about you both. What happened to Ethan was part of something bigger, and I had to go and follow that lead. But I really can't talk anymore."

"Wait, why? What's going on? Why aren't you letting Sam and Dean know where you are?" Lilly asks in one breath, confusion eating into her tone.

"Are you alright?" Mae asks concerned.

"I'm fine, just found out some information. Sorry again for my boys, girls, but I have to go." Johns says and the girls hear a click.

"Well that's John for you." Lilly says rolling her eyes in frustration as she begins scrubbing again.

"That's not fair Lilly, especially now that we know what he's actually doing." Mae reprimands.

"Well, maybe if he communicated with his kids at all, that whole first meeting wouldn't have occurred that way… Maybe. I mean, I doubt it, but some warning probably, maybe, could have, prevented it. That's all I'm saying. So, fuck that. Lame. His secrecy is so… Gah! I mean, fine. I get it with us. I mean, we are… us. But his fucking offspring are freaking out, flipping their shit, you know? And he should care more. S'all I'm saying." Lilly vents as she rinses off the pan she had been going at and starts on the next one.

"Lilly, I just don't think we know their world well enough to be making those calls. Also, your hands are going to end up bleeding if you keep scrubbing like that, that pan has done nothing to you. _At least she's productive when angry, I guess._

The girls finish up the dishes and begin working on their special orders, heading to the front once they get them in the ovens.

Lilly sees the books on their table and happily swings into her chair while Mae makes the tea. Excited to finally pick up where she had left off, she wastes no time opening up to her book mark.

A few minutes later, Mae brings a tray with their teapot and mugs to the table. She smiles when Lilly doesn't even seem to notice. She makes Lilly's tea the way she likes it, and pushes the steaming mug towards her friend. She makes her own mug and takes a seat across from Lilly, picking up her book to enjoy a few moments of peace and quiet.

The mugs are no longer steaming when Lilly suddenly begins laughing. She rests the hand holding the book on the table and begins tapping her book with her free hand.

Mae looks up from her book, brow raised in a clear 'this-had-better-be-worth-interrupting-my-reading' warning. "What's so funny?"

"This book; I wonder if the writer met Dean and Sam and was inspired to write this." Lilly says, flipping through the pages.

"Oh… yeah, I can see that. Sam said that they do their job to help people." Mae replies thoughtfully. "However, if that's the case this Carver Edlund takes a lot of liberty with stuff, if it is based on them." Mae says thoughtfully.

"Fuck yeah, he does. It could just be a huge coincidence… But, super cool if it isn't." Lilly goes back to reading the interesting book. She had just gotten to the part where Sam was trapped in the Impala with a ghost.

"Maybe we should ask them, if we ever see them again." Mae also goes back to her book, making a mental note to ask Andy if the book was part of a series or a stand-alone novel.

* * *

AN: We'd like to thank you for reading our first Pie all the way to the end! Let us know what you think, send us a pm or leave a comment. We love to hear from our readers! Continue to follow our bakers as they step further into the world of Supernatural in our next installment, Mourning Pie. Or, if you're looking for a quick read, check out our one shot collection, Slices of Pie.


	16. A note about Bakers, Hunters and Pie

AN:

Thank you so much for reading Witch Pie? It is the first book in our Fan Fiction series: Bakers, Hunters and Pie. We'll keep this page updated with the current books out in the series. :) We hope to see you through to the very end.

1: **Witch Pie?** (Complete)

2: **Mourning Pie** (Complete)

3\. **Cursed Pie?** (Complete)

4\. _**Blood Pie**_ (We've started uploading our fourth installation of our series! We hope you've enjoyed the ride so far! It only get's more intense from here! We really hope that you enjoy reading it, more than we enjoyed editing it!)

Slices of Pie: A collection of one shots about Mae and Lilly from before the series, or scenes that we decided to write but not include in the series.

Just the Crust: A collection of dark and twisted events. These are not Fluffy

~Thanks again!~

Dark and Twisted Sisters


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